• by Kelly Samardak , February 25, 2009

Lotame Bowling Party, Lucky Strike, New York
February 24, 2009

A couple of months ago, Lotame Sales Executive Jeremy Haft (former MediaPoster) told me to hold a date in February for a Lotame party. This was not a problem at the time -- NO invitations were coming in for our lovely shortest month of the year. Plus, the decision was made easier when I remembered the vitality around the first Lotame party I hit last year -- it was at Marquee with its chubby drinks and glowing purple and green ice cubes. This time the gathering place was at Lucky Strike and located "on 42nd and New Jersey" according to my +1, Gail Hilton of Qwikker. Let's talk about how, um, refreshing the "breeze" was coming off the water last night. OK, let's not.

Leave it up to Manhattan to make a bowling alley feel too clubby and chichi. It's BOWLING. You put your sweaty feet into rentable shoes that previous athlete's foot candidates have already souped up. Then, you stick your fingers into too-tight holes that other potential [skin disease here]- covered fingers have been in (unless you're lucky enough to have your very own ball!) and you lob this heavy old ball down a slick wooden lane, making ridiculous faces and swinging your legs around. It's not glamorous, but the Lucky Strike on 42nd and New Jersey slapped Chanel lipstick on that pig. Beautiful purple-blue lighting made dangling paper mache-looking balls pop from the ceiling in globes of gold. Each lane had its own disco track lighting and as I walked past what I assumed was the main bar to the private room Lotame had reserved, I felt like I was at M:2 again, minus the ravenous modelesque types.

The private room was ridiculous in a good way. I kept thinking I was in Snoop Dog's basement (or for the older crowd, Rod Stewart's basement?) I could see myself having my birthday here, but it would have to be my 60th, since it will take me that long to amass the funds to cover the room rental cost. Sheesh. There were two private lanes with people slowly gathering up the courage (the open bar helped) to knock some pins down. Surrounding the lanes were white, yes white, settees, lounges and chairs. The derriere props overlooked multiple plates of food like blue cheese mini burgers, barbeque chicken skewers, a glob of chicken in some kind of ranch sauce (when someone asked a waiter what was on the plate, another waitress interrupted and said "it's chicken in a sauce." Well, duh), and my new favorite -- fried macaroni and cheese. Now THAT's what I'm talking about -- get some backwoods snacks in here!

Putting a little muscle at the entryway was Lotame's Mike Walsh. Through the side of his head I saw John Leone, who I first met at the first Lotame party -- where I captioned him as an "unemployed friend." He was having a laugh with Scott Hoffman, Chief Revenue Officer at Lotame, and Twittering "FOOD!" Eventually he ended up hustling at the pool table. I headed up to the bar and ran into Andy Monfried, Lotame founder and CEO. I was shocked to discover that he exchanged his DSLR for a pocket shooter -- but with 14 megapixels and a decent zoom (and still, it's a Canon, so I'm not mad) it takes a pretty good shot. Monfried and I talked about how crappy the economy is, but that even in this low, digital media and advertising is still full of bright spots. I know, I know, tell that to the guy looking for a job right now, but that challenges presented to those still plugging ahead are creating a quagmire filled with people and companies who want to be the ones to figure it out.

Down the bar from Monfried was Greg March, Director of Media at Wieden+Kennedy. Belly up on the other end was the bourbon-loving Malick Cissé, Digital Junior Associate at Starcom MediaVest Group. I left Malick and Gail to their bourbon and advertising conversation and ran into Paul A Fusco, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development for, get this... Rocket Racing League. I'm not kidding -- rocket racing. Air shows and such are their communication medium (wink wink smile smile)of choice. If you've got a Maverick-like need for speed, just imagine yourself behind the wheel of a rocket. I'm just saying -- birthday gift ideas.

I had to do a double take when I saw Todd Griffin, Account Executive at Dogmatic, a creative agency. Seriously, he is John Leone's doppelganger (you can see in the Flickr set). The hoodie-sporting Todd was joined by the Dogmatic entourage of Persia Tatar Dogmatic Director of Business Development (former MediaPoster AND bowling pro too), Dogmatic Account Executives, Nicholle Kun, Lara DeSignor, and Ann Quinn, Director of Integrated Marketing at Dogmatic.

I think more companies need to have more bowling parties -- but they should randomly create teams using some sort of special social tagging situation and then bus everyone out to Ohio for a REAL bowling experience. Oh - it would have been a fabulous idea to have the heat on. I didn't warm up from the outdoor cold until I was on the bus heading home.  Good thing I ate all those fried mac and cheese bits to keep my insides toasty.

Racing your rockets? Invite kelly@mediapost.com!

Find John Leone's doppleganger in the Flickr set!