Advertising Good, Ad Week 2004 Bad

A $300,000 shortfall?

I'm not surprised, quite frankly.

From what I've experienced of this so-called Advertising Week, so far, it's been nothing but a series of poorly planned misadventures.

Take the Yahoo!-sponsored Creative Juice Party at the Campbell Apartment. Originally slated as "invitation only", I figured there'd be no way for me to get in. Which, understandably, made me want to go even more. So I called a contact of mine at Yahoo! who said there'd be no problem if me and my agency posse showed up.

When we arrived outside of Grand Central Station's Campbell Apartment, we mistakenly walked into the wrong event -- some very elegant affair for Cipriani Dolce. By the time we realized we were in the company of people far classier than your typical adfolks, we had already downed a few bottles of champagne. Which was just fine with us.

On to the "real" party, then.

Now why Yahoo! would think it a good idea to host a supposedly creative gathering at a bar favored, apparently, by people in finance and the insurance business is totally beyond me. But when we walked into the Campbell Apartment, we were greeted by a snobbish hostess who immediately turned her nose up at the art director who happened to be wearing a t-shirt.

"No t-shirts allowed," she informed him, much to her own delight.

"But this is a creative gathering, right? Creative attire is notoriously informal."

"Sorry, that's how it goes. I'm afraid I can't let you in."

So the art director left, happy not to belong to any club that wouldn't accept him as a member. For the rest of us, we had to endure a corner table next to a few puffed up foreign currency manipulators. We ordered drinks, agreeing that we'd have one round and then go off to someplace fun, like the Museum of Locusts.

And then, at just the right moment, a few Yahoo! folks walked in, and introduced themselves.

"Some party, huh?" I said.

"Yeah, it was much livlier last night," said one of the Yahoo! guys.

"A morgue would be livlier than this!" I yelled over the loud, bombastic whispers of a few inside traders.

Thanks to the generosity of the Yahoo! people, our few rounds of drinks were covered, but this wasn't quite what you'd expect of a party heralded as a "Creative Juice Bar." Supposedly, tonight's party (thursday) will be party of Romanesque proportions. Let's wait and see...

Now. I'd be remiss not to describe in painstaking detail the pain of getting into one of the daytime seminars.

My partner 'registered' our whole creative group to see wednesday's seminar, "The Future of Creativity", featuring our hero, Dave Droga (among others), at the Bloomberg building.

This was a real hoot.

We were told to arrive an hour early, since seating was limited and the event over-registered. Since the event was scheduled to begin at 2, we arrived at one. Strangely, only my partner's name turned up on the registration list. Everyone else's name was put onto a provisional list, and we were all told to wait until 1:50 to see if we could actually attend the event.

At about 1:30, gaggles of people began arriving. People crowded the Bloomberg building lobby. And herds of folks who claimed to have registered in advance found their names mysteriously absent from the list as well.

At this point, total chaos ensued.

Security couldn't contain the minions of people crowding the lobby. People were expelled to the outer lobby. Oversized men with earpieces begain to scramble about and raise their voices.
Mostly we were treated as cattle, being shifted from one side the lobby to other. Back and forth and back and forth.

This chaos continued until about 2:30, when people at the top of the provisional list were selected to enter. Fortunately, me and a colleague were the first on the list, and were granted the grand privilege of being able to enter sacrosant Bloomberg Building elevator.

From that point on, the seminar was fine. Inspiring, even. But then again, how could it not be? Dave Droga was smart and funny and irreverent. Ernest Lupinacci (of Anomaly) was smart and funny and irreverent. And so too was everyone else on the panel (whose names now escape me.)

But seriously, these events seem to lack organizational skills. If the parties aren't lively, maybe that can be expected as people DO have to have to work the next day. But yesterday's event registration was so disorganized, and, as a result, so annoying and stressful to endure, that it makes you wonder exactly who 'planned' all of this.

If it's the same person who inadvertently blew $300,000, I'm not suprised!

Yipes! That does sound like they had issues with planning. At least you eventually got in.

Highly entertaining comment copyman, gracias. Sounds a right mess.

I want to buy CopyWhore a beer for that comment.

Take me for a beer? Great. When do you take lunch?