Just An Online Minute... Digital DUMBO Enters The Terrible Twos

by Kelly Samardak, Jan 28, 2011, 4:00 PM

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Digital DUMBO 2nd Birthday, The DUMBO Loft, New York
January 27, 2011

Last night Digital DUMBO celebrated their 2^nd birthday at The DUMBO Loft, sponsored by Carrot Creative. 

Carrot has been there since the beginning as a co-founder/organizer with Kristin Maverick (who is now at BBDO) followed Kaitlin Villanova, who is hopefully no longer on her delayed plane.  Andrew Zarick, previously of the JAR Group, currently of himself, has been the constant.  And, of course, because Carrot sponsored the event, I expected their brand presence, der, that's why you sponsor events/toothbrushes/vending machines -- but it would have been great to see Digital DUMBO visually recognized more.

I'll give you an example so you can see I wasn't just Sober Sally, Master Of The Buzzkill.  I got there at 7:30 p.m., molested Jonas, the perfect-noggined French Bulldog of Carrot Creative's Mike Germano, and was educated on the party game:  Carrot Creative Bingo.  Each card held a BINGO square of smaller-squared avatars of Carrot Creative employees.  The goal was to sift through the crowd, discover the Carrots, and achieve BINGO.  A very clever, non-cheesy icebreaker/gettin' to know you networking activity.   Including the faces of other Digital DUMBO inhabitants in addition to the Carrot crew would have aligned more with the reason for the party. People took that game seriously, mobbing Carrot Creative's giddily like groupies. 

It was great to see Tim Nolan there last night.  Harken back to the first ever Digital DUMBO event, and you'll recall he was the very first presenter.  His career since then has morphed incredibly, from Universalscene, to Hush Studios (who threw ridiculous parties) -- and now he's a Creative Director at JWT.  Colin Murphy of SKINNY was also there, and I introduced him to Starcom Mediavest's Cassel Kroll before scooting off to poke my way into Temboo's Luke Chatelain's circle.  Dario Meli of Invoke was part of the circle, receiving congratulations all over the place for Invoke's opening of their New York office.  Brandon Barras, Project Manager at UGO.com, was there as well. You may recall him as one of the winners of the Just An Online Minute contest.

Manning the bar were the always delightful twosome of Antonelli "antrants" Briceno of Carrot and Carrot's Adam Katzenback.  Next time I'm going to bartend so everyone can benefit from the beauty of their charisma in larger doses.  Speaking of charisma, Ruder Finn's Katy Kelley was on the periphery, somehow talking to Colin Murphy who I had just seen on the other side of the room, and Kyle McDonald, technology director at Carrot.  Katy has an exciting trip to China planned - work-related, of course.  

Cooper Miller, video art graphic guy, and his twisty moustache were also there.  I found him with Juliette Richey of Big Fuel, whom I didn't recognize without her ugly sweater.  

The party was briefly interrupted by a presentation, where Andrew Zarick attempted to quiet the sauced crowd in order to thank everyone for coming.  He was moderately successful at shushing.  Mike Germano took the mic and splashed the crowd with nuggets like, "I'm looking at you, if I see you talking, I will never serve you beer again" and "...it's thanks to you motherf*ckers."  

It sounds like, after talking to co-founder Andrew Zarick, DigitalDUMBO has some acceleration plans for 2011.  The plan is for the terrible twos to be terribly awesome.

Photos are up on Flickr!

*edited at 5:33p.m. I had listed Katy Kelley as an organizer, but have since been corrected that she was never an organizer, just a member of the Carrot team.

 

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0 comments on "Just An Online Minute... Digital DUMBO Enters The Terrible Twos".

1. Katy Kelley from Ruder Finn
   

   commented on: January 28, 2011 at 9:46 p.m.

   'Tis true. Never organized...merely supported by drinking the beer provided. Wait - WHAT?! I meant, supported by providing provocative, compelling, articulate thought leadership on the digital industry.

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