Leaving the bathhouse, I headed straight for a nearby smithy with Felix.
"Every time I say something, you start a new venture, Young Master. Now I'm too scared to speak anything."
"That just means you're inspiring me, Felix."
I said to the grumbling Felix.
I had been thinking about it wrong all this time.
How to make Roman citizens use Palmolive?
Thinking this way, the answer came quickly.
Roman citizens believed that I started the insurance business after receiving a divine revelation.
What is the way to make the most of that belief?
The answer was simple.
Felix and I stopped in front of a smithy.
Like countless other Roman shops, this smithy was located on the first floor of an insula.
"Is the repair on the helmet I ordered last time finished?"
"It was finished just moments ago. Go to my son inside, and he'll bring it to you."
A few customers were already standing in front of the smithy.
The middle-aged blacksmith hammered iron on the anvil without pause while talking to the customers.
As we approached, the clang of hammers and the acrid smell of iron made my head spin.
The blacksmith looked up and asked us.
"Is there something specific you're looking for, sir?"
"I came to order a branding iron. I'd like it made as quickly as possible if you can."
"Do you want to brand livestock?"
"Not livestock—amphoras (jar)."
"Amphoras? That's quite a rare order."
The blacksmith tilted his head and said.
"Follow me inside for now."
"Young Master, why are you branding amphoras?"
Felix whispered.
"Have you ever heard of brand marketing, Felix?"
Felix shrugged, completely clueless. Inside the smithy, various items ranging from bronze armor to bows were displayed.
Brand.
This word originally meant a mark burned onto livestock.
"Caesar, that is, our family name, is now widely known to Roman citizens. My father scattered a lot of money through charity work, and I succeeded with this insurance business."
The Caesar family.
What if I made that name into a brand?
Insurance created by receiving a divine revelation.
Using the Caesar brand, I can give the liquid soap the same story.
A marketing strategy that doesn't exist in this era.
Just then, the blacksmith appeared from the back holding a large hammer and several bronze rods.
"What pattern should I engrave on the brand? Complex patterns will cost extra."
"A pattern..."
I thought for a moment.
The Caesar family crest would be fine, but I want to try something newer.
Suddenly, the image of a wheel came to mind.
A wheel symbolizing the goddess Fortuna would seem like a good brand image.
"If you're going to put a picture, why not put an eagle too?"
Felix muttered jokingly.
"An eagle wouldn't be bad, either."
Eagles, wolves, horses, and boars were animals considered sacred in Rome.
Especially the eagle, which symbolized Jupiter, or Zeus, the supreme god of Greek and Roman religion.
I said to the blacksmith holding the hammer.
"Make it in the shape of an eagle sitting on a wheel."
"An eagle? It's possible, but you'll have to pay more."
The blacksmith scratched his head and replied.
"The price doesn't matter."
I turned my head to look at Felix.
"That's exactly it, Felix. Keep inspiring me like that by my side."
"You know something, Young Master? You're terrifying."
As if he couldn't win, Felix sighed and replied.
Not long after, the bronze branding iron was completed.
"I had a bit of trouble making them all identical. It was quite difficult but I'm glad the result turned out well."
I carefully examined the brands I received from the blacksmith one by one.
They all had the same shape without any minor errors.
Satisfied, I paid generously without haggling over the price.
"Now there's only one thing left. Making people experience Palmolive for free."
"Pardon?"
Felix's eyes widened.
"Doing what for free? I must have heard that wrong. You said we should give free amphoras to people and now Palmolive too?"
"You said it yourself. We should give some of it away for free so people can use it."
"But you aren't doing charity work, are you, Young Master? If we do that without proper plan, our business will go bankrupt first."
The Palmolive I made was superior to ordinary olive oil in every way.
Not just for washing the body, but also for dishwashing and laundry.
Once they use Palmolive even once, they will keep buying it.
But just giving it away for free was meaningless.
Building the brand image was the key.
"You're not planning to distribute it for free to passersby on the street, are you?"
"Of course not."
I smiled at Felix.
"I've thought of everything."
Where is liquid soap needed most?
Thinking about it, the answer was simple.
"Let's help Rome get clean."
***
Palmolive factory located on the Tiber River.
The water wheel turned, constantly crushing ingredients and mixing them into one.
"Move faster!"
"If we increase production just a little more, we can all get bonuses!"
In the sweltering heat, workers moved busily, filling amphora bottles with soap.
"Come on, keep branding the amphoras without rest! Otherwise, how will other people know what it is?"
Amphora bottles engraved with the new brand.
Some of them were amphoras Lucius had purchased in bulk for insurance promotion.
Although the quality was slightly lower, there were no problems using them.
Amphora merchants happily supplied these amphoras at a cheap price.
The employees carefully put the liquid soap into the amphoras and moved them to carts.
"So where are we sending all these amphoras?"
"Where do you think? To the places where our Palmolive is needed most."
The destinations the carts were heading to were the most popular public buildings in Rome.
The bathhouses and laundries.
***
"Wait, you're giving olive oil for free?"
Cerinthus asked, surprised.
He was the owner of this place, the Viminalis Bathhouse, one of countless public bathhouses in Rome.
A bathhouse was an honest business, but not a very lucrative one.
One had to maintain clean water every day and prepare perfumes and olive oil for customers.
Competing on price with rival bathhouses was the same.
Like everything in Rome, the only way to survive was to fight tenaciously.
He looked at the man standing in front of him with suspicious eyes.
This man, who came out of the blue, was proposing to give away as many as ten amphoras of olive oil for free.
"Without taking a single coin?"
At Cerinthus's question, the Greek-looking man sighed and replied.
"It's free—on one condition."
"Please speak."
"When you give this olive oil to customers, you must mention that this olive oil was made by Caesar Palmolive."
"Caesar Palmolive?"
"That's my master's name. Lucius Julius Caesar."
"Ah, the one who created insurance. Does he do an olive business too?"
"Not just olive oil, but Palmolive."
"Ah, yes. Palmolive."
Cerinthus replied, accepting the amphora the man handed him.
On the upper part of the amphora, a picture of a wheel and an eagle, and the Latin word 'Caesar' were engraved.
Cerinthus carefully lowered his head and looked inside the amphora.
A greenish-gold olive oil liquid caught his eye. Cerinthus slightly brought his nose to the amphora's lid.
A rich, nutty scent wafted gently.
"Just to be sure, but this isn't waste olive oil or something like that, is it? Giving olive oil for free. It's hard to believe."
Olive oil was quite common in Rome.
But it wasn't something to give away to others for free like this.
At his suspicious question, the Greek man retorted indignantly.
"You seem unaware, but this is more expensive than regular olive oil! And there isn't just one or two ingredients inside!"
The man sighed again and muttered.
"Why the Young Master insists on giving away such olive oil for free, good grief."
Looking at the man, Cerinthus asked.
"Then why on earth are you giving this away for free?
If it's more expensive than ordinary olive oil, couldn't you just sell it to shops?"
As a self-employed business owner, Cerinthus couldn't understand at all.
Maybe if it were waste olive oil that was hard to dispose of, but no matter how much he thought about it, there was no reason to give high-quality olive oil for free like this.
The man who brought this olive oil seemed to think the same.
"Tell me about it."
The man crossed his arms and continued.
"Anyway, when you give it to customers, you must mention what I said.
If I check later and customers say they've never heard such things, I will stop the supply immediately."
"That's not difficult."
Cerinthus shrugged and replied.
As a bathhouse owner, the cost he spent on purchasing olive oil every month was substantial.
Citizens preferred bathhouses stocked with high-quality olive oil.
As such, competition existed among bathhouse owners to stock better olive oil.
So there was no reason to refuse good quality olive oil.
Cerinthus waved his hand briskly and said.
"On my name, I swear it. I will definitely emphasize it once to every customer entering my bath."
"Then it's a promise?"
Just as the man turned to leave, a thought suddenly occurred to Cerinthus.
He shouted toward the man.
"Is young Caesar perhaps planning to run for public office?"
"Public office?"
At the man's question, Cerinthus nodded.
In the past, some aediles had provided olive oil for free during festivals.
If the purpose was to win the favor of citizens, giving olive oil for free like this made sense to some extent.
Cerinthus waved his hand and shouted.
"If he runs for office later, please tell him that this Cerinthus will definitely vote for Caesar."
But the man's reaction was the exact opposite of what Cerinthus expected.
"I wish it were for something like that."
Looking at the man sighing repeatedly, Cerinthus could only tilt his head in confusion.