PR Niblets

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Party Like It's Advertising Week






Like most PR women my age, I was introduced to the world of PR through the character of Samantha on the TV series Sex in the City. As a powerful publicist who went to the hottest parties and organized the coolest events, Samantha was my idol. I eventually came to my senses and realized I didn’t want to spend the first few years of my PR career stuffing swag bags (no offense) and decided business-to-business (B2B) PR was the way to go. B2B may seem less glamorous than consumer PR, but every now and then a killer event or party comes along that makes you remember why you LOVE this industry.


Last week was Advertising Week; everyone was buzzing about the AOL Opening Gala, the YouTube Battle of the Ad Bands, the Facebook Wrap Party, and so on. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated. Our team had been planning a client event for three months for the first day of "The Week" and I couldn't focus on any kind of celebration until the day was over. Like most events, it had come and gone in a flash and three months of planning, strategizing, coordinating, writing and pitching was over in what felt like a few seconds.


With the long (but good) day behind, I began to focus on the rest of what the week had to offer. How was I going to keep up with all the parties? Should I go to all of them? Which ones are worth staying till the very end? Who will I network with? Besides bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel, what's going to get me through the next day after a late night of partying? All of these questions started running through my mind. In the end, I remembered to "breathe twice" and before I knew it, The Week was over, and I walked away a different person with an Advertising Week under my belt and some new lessons learned:

  • For an industry that took a major hit this year, advertising is on its way to making a major comeback
  • Advertising is at the forefront when it comes to the evolution of "green" and innovation of technology
  • Spending time with clients outside of the office is a great way to develop lasting relationships
  • NYC is and always will be the Mecca of advertising
  • Bloggers can be like celebrities to some (i.e. Steve Hall of Adrants)
  • Don't be afraid to make new friends (but bring old friends with you to make networking easier)
  • If you are the Vlasic pickle guy, people will love you
  • It's OK to dance center stage
  • and finally...RELAX, it’s just Advertising Week and if you're at an agency you'll probably have (insert: CES, Internet Week, SIFMA, etc.) to look forward to in the near future
A wise PR Newswire exec told me, "The key to event planning is to work like a mad woman [or man] before the event so that the day of you are just sitting around and waiting for it to happen." And I have to agree, event planning (whether you’re Samantha Jones or Feintuch Communications) is a huge part of PR and it takes a well-oiled PR team to pull it off and keep on trucking.

8 comments:

  1. Advertising Week opened my eyes to the fact that advertising icons have crossed over into pop culture - the Vlasic stork, Travelocity gnome, Mr. Clean, jolly green giant! It's nuts! That is the power of advertising I guess.

    Glad you enjoyed your first crazy Advertising Week! Maybe next time Eve will ask YOU on stage!

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  2. Glad to be part of your crazy first day of Advertising Week!

    Now on to planning the next event like a crazy person so I can relax on the day of the event:)

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  3. ... also, I have to mention that I LOVE that you added the tag "PICKLE" to this post!!!

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  4. Note to other members of the FC team, clients and friends: It took until this posting for Christa to clue us in that we could add photos. Thank you Matt Scheckner, Lance and the gang at Vesta for making this information flow possible!

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  5. Well put Christa. I'm glad to see your hard work paid off as you continue to conquer the PR world.

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  6. I feel like I'm missing out on so much by being stuck in IR...investor conferences are so dull by comparison.

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  7. Great moral to the story--working hard(like a mad woman or man) makes the party even better!!!Great job! Glad the advertising biz is making a major comeback. NOW, if that would only happen in real estate!

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  8. PS I LOVE the Vlasic Pickle Guy, too!

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