I was sweating. He was not. My mouth was absolutely dry and he had refused the glass of tap water I offered him. We were sitting silently, face to face. Both players staring at each other, both of us waiting for our opponent´s next movement. It was a blinking duel like those I was used to play when I was a kid. Maybe he was faster, maybe I was letting him feel he was faster, but the first shoot came straight from his side.
— Do you watch YouTube, Mr. Flixxo? — He asked
— To be honest, I do Mr. Mad Man
— And you use an ad-blocker, of course…
— Nope. I’m a skipper, not a blocker. What about you?
— I watch every single advertisement. That’s my job. But back to you, if you are a skipper what makes you think Flixxo users would not skip as well?
— They will be rewarded. Its a mechanism that has already been proved on gaming apps, and it works.
— But if watching advertising pays, how can you avoid having people watching ads all day long only for earning tokens? And what if I put a bot to watch ads?
— Advertisers will be aware on how many ads a user has been served in the last hours and is up to them to serve new material and pay for that. If a user has only watched ads once in the last hours, it is more likely he is not a robot and he is keen on watching sponsored content. On the other hand, we will use biometrics…
— Biometrics?
— Yes, biometrics. We can check if there are random mouse movements, the speed in which a user types or the movements of his cellphone accelerometer in order to discover if he is actually a human or not.
— If something like this was possible why isn’t YouTube already doing it?
— Because they are not interested on being transparent. Their business model relies on serving as much advertising as possible, regardless if there is a human or a robot in the other side.
— Science fiction! What would you propose next? Sending astronauts to the moon?
— What was the year the last time you checked?
— 1968. Why?
— Season 6…
— What?
— Nothing… just wondering. Flixxo’s model is better for advertisers. You will really know that someone watched and paid attention to your stuff. And you can pay for having the best audience available for your message. You will make a better use of your budget and will see better results.
— Advertising is based on one thing: happiness…
— I think I’ve seen a meme somewhere of you saying that…
— And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK, Mr. Flixxo. And I am happy.
Draper stood up. I followed him and stood up too.
— It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Flixxo.
— The pleasure was absolutely mine. And by the way, my name is not Mr. Flixxo…
— I know. And I don’t mind. We are all brands, we are all selling something. And that you were selling, I have bought. You’re a Mad Man too.
— And you are a Flixxer.
He smiled. We shaked our hands. Would have loved sharing a glass of Scotch with him, but he left the office in a blink of an eye. I was still in shock, and I let myself lay in the same place he was sitting two minutes ago. There was no other place to lay on in our semi-empty air conditioning-less brand new office.
Was it really him? Was I dreaming on a hot summer day in Buenos Aires, taking a nap on my sixties’ vintage leather coach? I will never know. What I do know is that those guys created a model that was disruptive then, and hasn’t changed in the last decades.
