Agency of the Year

As any of my regular readers can tell you, I'm seriously behind on the blogging. I have about six drafts on the dashboard just waiting to be, well, drafted.

Anywho, this one is from APRIL!

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Spring is finally here and, for advertising folks, that can only mean one thing: awards season! Every year, all the medical advertising companies get together to see who got fat, who got fired, and who will win a Med Ad News ("Manny") Award.

This year, my agency was nominated for one of the top awards - Agency of the Year. It was the first time we were nominated in the category (we won "Agency on the Rise" in 2003), so we weren't very optimistic that we'd win. In fact, our Managing Partner send this email to the whole agency on the morning of the ceremony:

Folks:
As many of you know, tonight is the Med Ad News agency of the year whatever. I don ‘t want to be a party pooper but I feel compelled to tell everyone that our chance of winning is quite remote. I have been going to these things for over a decade and an agency that has been nominated for the first time has never won! However, I want to impress upon everyone that it is a tremendous coup to be nominated for this award.

Because none of us thought we were going to win, we spent the evening doing what any self-respecting prospective runners up do: drank everything except the candle fuel. Our bevvy of choice at table 10 (aka the "kids table") was Woop Woop wine. Don't judge - it was free. Over at table 8 (aka the "grown ups table" they had place cards and traded up to a slightly more reputable vintage.

Well, imagine our collective surprise when our company's name was called as the winner in our category. We looked a little bit like the audience on Oprah's favorite things episode. Our three partners literally sprinted onto the stage. Our Managing Partner, who hadn't prepared a speech, thrilled the audience by using the word "balls" three times in three minutes. We wouldn't have it any other way.

The Big Cheeses...

Before the awards.

Still maintaining some dignity

Our CFO haggling with the waiters.
"What do ya mean the Tattinger is $80 cheaper than the Dom?"

We went for the Dom. Until it ran out.
Then we switched to the Tattinger.

After the ceremony, we took over the hotel bar. Someone thought it would be a good idea to order shots of Patron.

The beginning of the end.

Big Shots

It was a heady mix of booze and bravado. We stayed until 3 AM. The waitress, desperate for us the get the hell out, begged us to leave.

Devolution.

Bacchus and friend.

Pucker up.

The question on everyone's minds: does this mean we have to grow up????