• by Kelly Samardak , September 23, 2009

Social Media Society Launch Party, 675 Bar, New York
September 22, 2009

Keyholes and secret knocks? A clandestine meeting aboard a yacht surrounded by 4'11" wrestlers in ninja suits?  Floppy disks and hard drives?  Nah, just an electrified brain, Advertising Week, and a keen sense of curiosity are what will get you into the Social Media Society launch party, which was last night in the underground lair at 675 Bar.  And, my friends, if you have not sampled the glory and wonder that is chocolate-covered bacon, I weep for you.  If I ever go to prison, and signs point to yes, and I have to request a final meal, it will be chocolate-covered bacon.

I was eagerly anticipating this launch party (with the hashtag #socsoc) for a bunch of reasons; because I've helped founder Persia Tatar (formerly of Deep Focus, formerly of MediaPost, currently of Dogmatic) here and there, I've been able to watch the guest list and the menu build.  Which helped build my anticipation.   I also knew that there was some stiff competition in the party circuit with one of my favorites, Buddy Media, throwing a casino-themed bash at their place, YouTube's Battle of the Ad Bands, and salsa in the square (come on, it's hard to ignore that cha-cha beat!), but wouldn't you know it, the place was packed!

Helping to pack the seats that surrounded the plates and plates of meatballs, hummus, cheesy spinach dip, and very generously sliced pizzas was the hardest working PR/Publicist/bloggin' dude, Matthew Caldecutt of Trylon SMR.  He was one of the first to arrive, so it looked like the society had arranged an entire buffet just for him.  I think Matt opened the floodgates because after that, by twos and threes, even more arrived, answering the call of fried pork strips on a stick. 

Gretel Going, Partner at Channel V Media and Simon Kelly, COO of Story Worldwide, slithered through the Jenga Tournament tables.  You heard right, there was a Jenga tournament and every time one of those towers fell I lost another year of my life.  EROI's Dylan Boyd, who has a baby face to rival all, was working the room with EROI NYC's Christopher Masagatani.  Could they have been challenging Lynda Koster of RI Communications Group to a duel? Only time will tell.  John Leone of Sudler and Hennessey managed to keep up his reputation of never leaving home without jacket pocket décor, while Dario Meli, recent Vancouver import and one of the dudes behind Hootsuite, made friends with The Band-loving Kristen Bryan of DiGennaro Communications. DiGennaro's Jennifer Tamayo was also there, which means I think I've met everyone from that Communications house except DiGennaro.

Sergei Kogut, MediaPost's doer of all things guy, did a great job manning the door and being patient with a certain short photog who kept asking if he was directing people to the food.  Nearby was the sparkly-owl-ring-sporting Leslie Rasimas, who volunteered for security detail if needed.  Rob Manfredo quickly made friends with the Jenga crew while Joe Ciarallo, recently assigned the full-time role as mediabistro's PRNewser editor, made nice with Lippin Group's Matt Biscuiti and Agency Spy's KiranAditham.  The inclusion of AgencySpy's Matt Van Hoven officially made it a mediabistro trifecta.

Contentinople's Ryan Lawler was meandering around looking a little wiped out, as a lot of you already are, only two days deep into Advertising Week.   Not looking one bit bothered by anything was the always fashionable Lara DeSignor and a huge Dogmatic entourage. Nearby, sporting some sassy neckware in the form of his OMMA credentials, was Dan Campbell of InsightExpress.  He was living the Miller Highlife and yakking it up with Gather's VP of Sales Scott Perry, who I had met at a Brandhackers Meetup earlier in the year.  Joy Liuzzo rounded out the InsightExpress presence and it was great to finally meet her in person, but way too briefly!

I'm saving the best for last here.  When I saw that two NYU students were attending, I made it my mission to hunt them down.  I mean, that's initiative, right?  When I was in college I was entirely too obsessed with pizza and beer (not much has changed) and was a little, shall we say... unfocused, during my first few years.  Not so with Natan Edelsburg, who edits GlobalQuad.com (Colleges and Education on Twitter) (which you can also find in The New York Times) and is Vice President of NYU Steinhardt's Comm Club -- and Natan's partner in crime Abi Bock, Director of Social Media Society Outreach, NYU Steinhardt's Communications Club. They came intending to be the only student representation at the party -- and they were (take THAT, New School!).  Both are incredibly bright, driven and focused and have plans to be active participants in the Social Media Society.  I look forward to hearing more from and about them because I am confident they're going to be ridiculously successful.  Truly, they made me want to visit younger Kelly and punch her in the brain.

Let's top this name game off with Kristin Elliot from ReelzChannel, Lauren Bertolini of NBC Universal, Gretchen Miller of Vitrue, Inc, and Matthew Spangler, formerly of thehappycorp.  So many more of you came to the launch party that it would be ridiculous to name everyone.  It was a fabulous night and I can't believe I'm saying this, but there may actually have been too much food.  Which is why, obviously, my other mission was to try and eat all of it. Oh and big fat thanks to Alice Joy, who was never unavailable and somehow attentive to each event in the 675 grotto.

Alrighty -- we're on Advertising Week 2009 Day Three.  The question now is, will we make it to Friday!?

Send invitations for next year to kelly@mediapost.com

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know when the photos are uploaded!

Tonight is the Creative Media Awards and I hope to see you there!