One Million Sticky Notes
"Alright everyone," The head animator, Richard, clapped his hands sadly. "Sad news everyone, Bubbles is going to be ending this season if we can't find a way to make it more popular."
The news brought gasps, groans, and sobs. The staff of Sunset Animation Studio loved the underwater adventures of Pearl and Sam. The two Mercats were fun to draw, and especially satisfying when they all saw the pair swim around the screen after a long day of work. Unfortunately, the general public didn't think that same, preferring the more humanoid designs their competitors put out.
Despite the unhappiness of the staff, Richy was still slightly grinning. He waited a second before raising a hand to silence the crowd.
"However," he continued. "If we can find a way to boost views then we can keep it going until the planned end. That is why I brought these," He gestured to a large board with four boxes, one bigger than the other three which were the same size. The biggest was labeled 'Ideas here,' the rest were labeled 'Good Ideas,' 'Bad Ideas,' and 'Needs Work.' "Write your ideas on sticky notes and place them in the main box. Every other weekday I'll host a meeting where we can go through every idea and place them in their respective boxes. We will try good ideas, delete bad ideas, and improve or change the rest. Sound good, everyone?"
Everyone cheered at that. Nora, as well as a few others, pumped their fists in the air. Richard dismissed them and everyone chattered as they went back to work.
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Nora, and her friend Elise, were observing the board. It was an hour before the meeting to sort the ideas and to say the ideas box was packed would be an understatement. Notes were stuck on top of others, some already fell off, and others were hidden among the mass of ideas. It had only been a day since the announcement of the challenge and Nora was happy at the mass of sticky notes, one would hopefully lead to the show's continuation.
"That's way more than what I saw before lunch," Elise whistled.
"Of course, people took their free time to write down their ideas. I don't think I know a single person who wants this show to shut down," Nora responded.
"I just," The blue-haired paused to search for the right words. "Didn't expect this many."
"No one did."
"Dang right."
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After the meeting, Nora was sad to find only a measly 17 ideas had been placed in the 'Good Ideas' section. There were triple that in the 'Needs Work' and the rest had been discarded. Most of them were similar; buying an ad or spreading word about it, and Richard pointed out the flaws in a lot of them.
Some people thought outside of the box. One person had suggested displaying the show's name in the moon a few nights, and another had wanted to make a few look-like's for the main characters and hang them around the city, but they were also shut down because of budget limits.
Nora was delighted when her idea of conducting a crossover had been put into the 'Good Ideas' section, and that someone had been tasked to reach out to other producers.
One that really interested everyone, and that was slightly cryptic, was 'Plot Twist'. No one rose to claim credit for the idea, but many had voiced their interpretations, and the standing agreement had been to figure out a way for something captivating, new, and interesting to happen and release a trailer with the plot twist in it, and hopefully gain attention.
But all Nora could hope for was that at least one of the seventeen would lead to a solution.
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The views were increasing, but not fast enough. It was time to execute the final show stopper.
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A competition was held. The cash prize wasn't terribly high, but it was also nothing to sneeze at. People all around wanted a chance to win 100k. Views skyrocketed and quiz attempts flooded in. It was simple, enter your email and fill in the quiz about the show correctly. It was easy, just sit back and watch the first few episodes, then answer a few questions, nothing you'd have to hunt for.
Nora was shocked at the outcome, even more so when they were featured on a popular weekend live action comedy program. After that, even more people noticed. The whole of Sunset Animation Studio's staff was happy that people were loving their work.
The contest ended, and the whole event had made so much money that Richy was happy to announce that there would be two winners, just like the two protagonists. Everyone got a small raise, and then the creator of the idea got a hefty bonus.
Life was good.
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The views kept growing. Nora was ecstatic about the release of the first episode of a parody. Their partners at Ocean View Animations had wanted to add on to Pearl and Sam's world, and the staff enthusiastically said 'YES!'
The fandom was huge. Richard even said if this keeps going they might add another season or two after the planned end, and the writers have been having a ball with brainstorming for creative and captivating ways to continue the story.
Nora was promoted to the animation council, a team of animators who influence the studios' decisions with inside knowledge. She loved the position, and was determined to make the company bigger and better than ever before.