Chapter 33 – Brand Awareness
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"Miss Planner, I know how we can get a lot of recruits really fast!"

One of Miss Planner's analysts, a woman named Tracy who seemed to have a perpetual smile on her face, barged into her office without knocking. Tracy was the worst-performing analyst on Miss Planner's team, but she occasionally came up with something that was worth considering.

Miss Planner was experimenting with a new set of psychic materials on her big blue tarp. The Ancient Race had been busy pumping out high-energy plastic, metal, and cloth products, and the tiny Miss Planner was hard at work trying to figure out the best way to make use of them.

"Alright, Tracy. This can't wait for the meeting tomorrow, huh? I'm a bit busy right now. What's your idea?"

Tracy took that as an invitation to make herself at home. She sat down in the chair opposite Miss Planner's desk and crossed her legs.

"Do you know why we're not getting any new recruits? It's because we don't have a website! We could be the first white organization to have one set up, and we could put a ton of information on it to make people want to join us. I found some free templates online!"

Miss Planner sighed deeply as she stared at the ceiling. Her eyes were closed and her lips pursed. She was deep in thought. After a few moments, she opened her eyes and turned back to Tracy.

"You're right. We don't have a website. Do you know why that is?"

"Well... I guess because it's hard to find the time to set one up, and nobody here knows how to use computers."

"No. The Hands of Light have a website. We use their server for our e-mails. We don't have a website because we don't want to attract the wrong type of attention. We're trying to keep a low profile."

"No, think about it! Why are we hiding away from the world? We should be advertising ourselves! There's no reason for us not to tell everyone what we can do. If people knew we could unlock their hidden powers, they'd flock to the Tower in droves! I mean, look what happened with that Psychic Network scam! People couldn't get enough of it!"

"Yeah, that's the issue..."

"Remember what you told us in that strategy meeting? That we had to expand out of Grandebelle before anyone else so we could get a head start? Well, I think that applies here too. We could get people from all over the world coming here to join us!"

Tracy had a point, and Miss Planner couldn't deny that what she was saying made sense. But if the Chosen Ones advertised directly to the public, there was a risk that the secrets of psychic power would be revealed to the general population. Once that happened, Grandebelle would become a battlefield. World governments would descend upon the city like locusts and the Chosen Ones would lose everything they'd worked so hard to accomplish.

"I think I've got a good idea, Tracy. Can you help me think this through?"

Tracy nodded eagerly. Miss Planner took a moment to think before speaking again.

"I agree with you in theory, but we need to be very cautious with what we put out for the world to see. Safety should be our highest priority."

"Safety?"

"The Chosen Ones are secret for a reason. If word gets out about how powerful we really are, we'll have a lot of enemies on our hands. The government will send the military to destroy us before we end up being the cause of the next world war."

"Oh my god! I'm sorry. Forget what I said."

"No, hold on, Tracy. We need to get ahead of the curve here, but we need to to do it safely. We can advertise worldwide as long as our message doesn't look too credible. Just like what we're doing with the Hands of Light in Challebon. When our clients say they developed spiritual powers through some fishy program, most people just assume they're victims of a weird scam. But there are still enough people who believe them to keep our business profitable."

"So... we can make the website, as long as it looks fake? Then... we're only going to get gullible idiots! We'll have a bunch of people joining us, but they'll be totally useless!"

"Gullible idiots, maybe. Totally useless, I don't think so. Remember the Psychic Network? They were scamming celebrities and high-profile government officials for years before they got caught. And we won't be scamming anyone, because our organization really does give people psychic powers!"

"Okay... I guess I see your point. So we just have to make sure that our website isn't too convincing..."

"That's right, Tracy. That's why I want you to make the site look like it was designed by a non-professional. Use the free templates you were talking about and customize them. You're going to make an online discussion board for people interested in psychic powers. We're going to appeal to the masses, not the elite."

"A discussion board? I think I can do that..."

"I'm going to give you a budget, and I want you to get started on a mockup right away. We're going to have to talk to the recruitment division before we can go live, but I know they'll be excited about this. Make it look colorful, okay? I'm thinking a purple background covered with gaudy gold stars. Get creative."

"Alright! This is starting to sound like fun! I'll have it ready by tonight!"

Miss Planner smiled at her Tracy's enthusiasm. For all of her faults, the woman was very motivated when she set her mind to something. It was a quality that Miss Planner liked to nurture in her employees.

The next morning, Miss Planner and her analysts gathered around a conference table. Tracy was already sitting there before they got there, looking smug. She had a laptop open and a large stack of paper in front of her. The other members of the team sat in chairs around the table, waiting to hear what their manager had to say.

"Good morning, everyone. As you all know, we've been having trouble getting new recruits, and Tracy has come up with a solution that I think will help us out. Go ahead, Tracy."

Tracy fiddled with the remote for a minute before she figured out how to get her laptop's display onto the big screen.

"Thank you, Miss Planner. Is everyone ready? Okay! Here it is!"

Tracy opened the mockup website she made. The whiteboard showed a sinister white and black face with eyes that tracked the mouse cursor above a box with a big red button.

'Welcome to the Psychic Truth Forum. Are you here today to receive the gift of psychic power? Press the button below, and all your desires will be granted!'

Tracy pressed the red button, and a strange-looking web forum popped up. It had a scrolling purple and gold background and a lot of text. There were links to different sections, but Tracy clicked through them too quickly for anyone to see what she was doing. She pulled up a thread titled 'Where to go to discover the Psychic Truth.'

"Here's where we'll post questions and answers about psychic powers! Of course, the Chosen Ones are going to be in complete control of the discussion! We can post pictures and videos to get people curious, but we won't let them see anything too dangerous. I found some great templates online."

Tracy was talking so fast it sounded like she was reciting a script.

"We'll have a section dedicated to psychic powers, and another one for testimonials. And we can put some videos on the front page! We can get a lot of good material from the security team! They fight all types of weird monsters!"

Miss Planner nodded approvingly.

"Excellent, Tracy. I want you to keep working on this for the entire week. Alex, Gordon, you're with Tracy on this too. If you have any problems or need help with your design, I'm going to be available to answer your calls."

"Yes, Miss Planner."
"No problem!"

"I want this ready to hand off to the recruitment division by next Monday. Make sure everything looks interesting, works properly, and makes sense. I don't care if it's sloppy. We're going for a low-budget look."

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