Last night I ended up at a bowling alley in Manhattan.
The way I landed there was sort of convoluted, to say the least, but beside the point.
At any rate, I arrived on the third floor of
the stylish Bowlmor Lanes to find the joint packed with raucous agency types from Arnold MPG, FCB, Modem Media, Deutsch, The Digital Edge, Avenue A, Ogilvy, and others. There was also an agency I'd
never heard of--Integrated Media Solutions.
The second annual agency bowling party was hosted by Microsoft Corp.'s MSN ad sales, agency relations, and marketing teams. A kind of after-party for
folks attending MSN's Strategic Account Summit in New York City earlier in the day. MSN's fifth annual SAS was held in late March at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, but the show goes on the
road to several cities for agencies and marketers that aren't able to attend.
The lanes were mobbed with agency teams competing against one another, each outfitted in t-shirts designed for the
second annual face-off. Modem's shirt read: "Modem Media Web Hauling, estab. 1987, 24-hour Service Bowling Team." There was food and drink (lots of drink), and plenty of fun. In fact, I've never seen
a livelier group of agency folks and was unabashedly envious of the comradarie, competition, and sense of pride they appeared to display.
So there was Alan Schanzer from The Digital Edge bowling
a near strike--the guy is good! And Jonathan Adams from Modem, hanging out, cheering his team on. I spotted Jim Warner from Avenue A in an oversized t-shirt having more fun than I've ever seen, and
Kevin Howard, who I'd spoken to earlier in the day by phone but had never met.
Wearing specially designed t-shirts and huddled around their stations, the agency groupings looked a bit like
high-school cliques--fiercely competitive, but good-natured underneath. At the end of the evening Lisa Utzschneider, eastern regional director of sales for MSN and the mistress of ceremonies,
announced tournament awards--Xbox videogame consoles, of course.
Before a rollicking crowd, Arnold MPG snared honors for being the worst bowlers with a score of 336. Best attendance went to Modem
Media--the Norwalk, Conn.-based agency bussed 32 people to the party. Best team t-shirt and team spirit went to Avenue A, cited for "excellent branding;" the agency incorporated the MSN butterfly
into its t-shirt. Rowdy toughs from Deutsch booed loudly when Avenue A accepted its award. And the award for best bowlers went to the FCB team which racked up a score of 967.
And they say agency
life is tough. Not last night.