(Q - ??: In the book of the golden owl you say that there was not one of the first partners who abandoned the project. Could we find out a little more about that?
, the reason why this person abandoned the project?)
MB: yes, I can tell it to you as I wrote it elsewhere. The person who, it was a friend at the time, who wanted to sponsor the operation. We had other plans. I had designed other projects with him that were even more megalomaniacal, but when we got into this, he was someone who made watches, jewelry, who worked for many big, well-known brands. both in France and in Switzerland and he therefore had a factory. And in this factory, he had machine tools and on these machine tools, it was quite fascinating to see, he worked gold. So on the machine tools, there are little blocks of gold and the tools shaped objects out of gold and at one point, at the time when we designed all this, he wanted to launch his own brand. As he knew how to make lots of objects for the biggest names in luxury, he said to himself well I'm going to launch my brand and it was in this context that I was commissioned by him to create a line of products , which I created and where he asked me to imagine an operation which, on a media level, would allow him to launch his brand.
So I imagined, as I told in my books, I imagined launching an operation called Sixteen Two. With painting, sculptures, et cetera, to promote its products and so on. Thereupon, when he wanted to begin his marketing, well, let's say the business plan, the project for marketing these products, he spoke to people who were supposed to be marketing specialists, who in fact were. . One of them advised him to consult Régis Hauser who was a marketing consultant specializing in mail order sales. At the time, major brands like Cartier and others were launching mail order sales.
You should know that there was no Internet, there wasn't all that, there weren't online sales, so it was mailings when we wanted to make ourselves known, it was mailings by post, leaflets were sent to mailboxes and then the big brands began to engage in mail order sales. And so in this context, one day we met Régis Hauser, a marketing consultant specializing in mail order sales, and he inoculated us with the idea of ??a treasure hunt. That's how it happened, so we abandoned the plans we had upstream, much to my chagrin because the treasure hunts initially didn't really excite me. I was quite right, in hindsight, I tell myself that I had seen the thing clearly.
(Q - Blackbeard: But hey, you're catching up a little bit Michel, you're catching up a little bit.)
MB: But that said that and so it all started to take shape. And then at one point my friend and sponsor who should have been the sponsor of the operation told me, well, listen, I'm stopping everything because I have problems with my suppliers, that is to say to say that the brands told him well listen, if you launch your brand, we will have it manufactured elsewhere because we don't make the competitors work. Okay, I'm schematizing a little but it's really the context and he told me, well, I'll let it go. And from there I found myself in direct contact with Régis Hauser who later became Max Valentin, Max Valentin had never been mentioned beforehand, it was not even planned that he would sign the book, eh, it was the sponsor who was to sign the book. I just had to illustrate. And then, when we both found ourselves with Régis Hauser, he was so crestfallen, as was I, because I had painted the pictures. Well, they weren't finished, but I had already done most of the work, and at one point, I told him, well, listen, I'm going to manage, I'm going to finance the owl and we're going to go for it anyway.
(Q - ??: Rock n roll, rock n roll, You are, you are rock'n'roll.)
(Q - Aladore: Thank you Michel for..)
MB: But I will tell you one thing, it is that I will soon be, I will soon be one-armed from biting my fingers.
MB: yes, I can tell it to you as I wrote it elsewhere. The person who, it was a friend at the time, who wanted to sponsor the operation. We had other plans. I had designed other projects with him that were even more megalomaniacal, but when we got into this, he was someone who made watches, jewelry, who worked for many big, well-known brands. both in France and in Switzerland and he therefore had a factory. And in this factory, he had machine tools and on these machine tools, it was quite fascinating to see, he worked gold. So on the machine tools, there are little blocks of gold and the tools shaped objects out of gold and at one point, at the time when we designed all this, he wanted to launch his own brand. As he knew how to make lots of objects for the biggest names in luxury, he said to himself well I'm going to launch my brand and it was in this context that I was commissioned by him to create a line of products , which I created and where he asked me to imagine an operation which, on a media level, would allow him to launch his brand.
So I imagined, as I told in my books, I imagined launching an operation called Sixteen Two. With painting, sculptures, et cetera, to promote its products and so on. Thereupon, when he wanted to begin his marketing, well, let's say the business plan, the project for marketing these products, he spoke to people who were supposed to be marketing specialists, who in fact were. . One of them advised him to consult Régis Hauser who was a marketing consultant specializing in mail order sales. At the time, major brands like Cartier and others were launching mail order sales.
You should know that there was no Internet, there wasn't all that, there weren't online sales, so it was mailings when we wanted to make ourselves known, it was mailings by post, leaflets were sent to mailboxes and then the big brands began to engage in mail order sales. And so in this context, one day we met Régis Hauser, a marketing consultant specializing in mail order sales, and he inoculated us with the idea of ??a treasure hunt. That's how it happened, so we abandoned the plans we had upstream, much to my chagrin because the treasure hunts initially didn't really excite me. I was quite right, in hindsight, I tell myself that I had seen the thing clearly.
(Q - Blackbeard: But hey, you're catching up a little bit Michel, you're catching up a little bit.)
MB: But that said that and so it all started to take shape. And then at one point my friend and sponsor who should have been the sponsor of the operation told me, well, listen, I'm stopping everything because I have problems with my suppliers, that is to say to say that the brands told him well listen, if you launch your brand, we will have it manufactured elsewhere because we don't make the competitors work. Okay, I'm schematizing a little but it's really the context and he told me, well, I'll let it go. And from there I found myself in direct contact with Régis Hauser who later became Max Valentin, Max Valentin had never been mentioned beforehand, it was not even planned that he would sign the book, eh, it was the sponsor who was to sign the book. I just had to illustrate. And then, when we both found ourselves with Régis Hauser, he was so crestfallen, as was I, because I had painted the pictures. Well, they weren't finished, but I had already done most of the work, and at one point, I told him, well, listen, I'm going to manage, I'm going to finance the owl and we're going to go for it anyway.
(Q - ??: Rock n roll, rock n roll, You are, you are rock'n'roll.)
(Q - Aladore: Thank you Michel for..)
MB: But I will tell you one thing, it is that I will soon be, I will soon be one-armed from biting my fingers.