• by Kelly Samardak , July 11, 2008

Voteforit! '08 Launch Party, Room Service, New York
July 9, 2008

Walking towards Room Service, I felt a sense of foreboding. No, it wasn't the heat -- it was a dash of nervousness in case George Lucas actually was a guest balled with a scoop of "I don't want to get struck by lightning" because the sky was green, people. Green! The Room Service Web site has quite a few "coming soon" messages and describes the place as the comfort and relaxation environment of a 5-star spa with individual rooms set up with flat screens, DVDS (uhhhh what kind of DVDs?), and ... room service, I guess. I wondered if the Gideons had been there before me a la Motel 6.

My throw-your-hands-in-the-!@#$!@-!#$!@-air anticipation of rubbing elbows with Snoop Dogg was replaced by the bitter taste of disappointment when I deciphered the code of the press release on my broken-toed (yeah, I have one broken toe, it's fun) walk over. That long list of celebs? They're in the PSA, not necessarily attending the launch party. What PSA, you ask (I'm trying out this reverse delivery of information -- confuse people, they'll keep reading, that's what my uncle Frank says, and he can't even read)? CPX Interactive and The Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) teamed up and congealed a jell-o mold of celebrities into the Voteforit! '08 PSA, officially launched on voteforit08.org on July 9th.

JLMPR did great job of pulling this shindig together. Getting busy celebs and activists in one location in a timely manner is like herding hamsters. They also opened my aperture on the PR hype sandwich they have to sling to get press interest (which really, you don't have to work that hard on me -- or make me think I got a special spot that someone else could have had...). It was back and forth racquetball speed to get on the red carpet, which I left at the first sign of rain, and still got good shots of people. I'm not a fan of hoops; I've got bad vertical jump height.

I got over it when I met Pam Lipshitz in person. She is not only a really sweet gal, but she also shares the good ole making-the-world-smaller IBM connection, so I'm sure in some way our circles intersect weirdly. I spied the lovely Toni Thompson, Multicultural Program Director, McCann Erickson, who I remembered from one of the first parties I covered - the launch of VCU Brandcenter! She forgave me for running away mid-sentence to chase after Russell Simmons, who I was determined to get a quote from about the Future of Media. Simmons' first stop enroute to the special peon-devoid VIP room was a warm side-hug and snapshot with Emil Wilbekin, Editor In Chief, GIANT. Between slatted black trays of salmon on thin waffled potato crisps drizzled with wasabi, curious rolled sausage pastries, and (the best!!) sliced crispy chicken chunks, I also found Green Lantern, one of the PSA stars, tucked into a dark corner.

While tailing the notoriously multitasking music mogul Mr. Simmons, I sat for a spell with Mike Seiman, a fellow who looks younger than me and is probably more accomplished (I'm working on it, sheesh!). CPXinteractive soft launched the PSA on YouTube about a week ago preceding official distribution. As of the night of the party, that video received over 600,000 views. Seiman isn't afraid of the Internet as the ultimate buzz creator.

"It's an exciting and busy time," he gushed passionately about the hard work he's more than willing to put into the ad network and ad exchange industry as well as philanthropic endeavors like inspiring young potential voters to register and exercise their right, everyone's right, to vote (hey, there were drinks called "the McCain" and The Obama" - and I won't tell you which tasted better).

After a bunch of speeches given first by Dr. Ben Chavis, HSAN CEO/President, then Russell Simmons, tied up by Mike Seiman, a wave of guests swept onto the raised stage, clamoring for a piece of Russell Simmons, and this is where I snapped another familiar face -- that of Advertising Age's VP and Publisher, Allison Arden.

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