This article in Marketing News Canada really speaks to me. Authored by Cam Gordon, he shares the story of an LG Shine launch party at Birks in Toronto. Apparently this was quite the event, but I did not attend. I was invited, but I completely ignored the request.
Here's a little from Cam's article for MNC.
Chapter 11 (the actual chapter, not bankruptcy protection) starts with an anecdote about inviting some blogger named “Toronto Mike” to a cellphone launch party in 2007. I was working for a PR agency called High Road Communications. It was an incredibly fun place to work, and my biggest client at the time was LG Electronics. We promoted the latest flatscreen TVs, digital appliances and other cool tech. There were also a series of increasingly fashionable cellphones. In Toronto, these were often paired with activations at Toronto Fashion Week, where LG was a lead sponsor.
The cellphone event I invited this Mike guy too was a very fancy launch party for the LG Shine, its latest fashion phone. You can still find coverage of this event online if you know where to look. A signature element of the event was the big reveal of a $30,000 diamond-encrusted LG Shine. People complain about the rising cost of iPhones, but this little phone was next level… and keep in mind, it didn’t even have web access!
Anyway, Mike completely ignored my email and every email I sent him during my High Road days. We later became very good pals once I started working at Twitter, but luckily for my gig supporting LG, there were other bloggers and online types who took us up on event invites and other PR exercises.
As heard in my epic 5 minute speech from Cam's Track Changes book launch, Cam lost me with two words: jacket required.
But seriously, I had no interest in most influencer events back in the day. Getting dressed up to see a $30,000 diamond-encrusted LG Shine unveiled won't get my attention. Some events did get my attention, but they were few and far between. Other influencers of the era lived for events like the one High Road organized for LG at Birks, and I was happy to remove myself from consideration so more of them could fill their boots. Aren't I a sweetheart?
Besides, if I hadn't completely ignored Cam during his PR agency era we would never have had a moment 19 years later when Cam would finally get an LG Shine in my hands.
And no jacket was required. A small victory.
