ASW 09 Wrapup Post Part 2 of 3: The Parties
There were a ton of parties at ASW this year, so it was kinda hard to choose which ones to go to. Most of the Cakes readers ended up at the Advaliant mansion party, the Copeac party, the CX digital party, or some combination of those three. All three ended up being off the hook in their own way, as Nickycakes had predicted in his pre-game post. This post should give a little rundown of these events.
The Advaliant Mansion Party
So what Advaliant seems to be doing lately is throwing a giant blowout party at these shows rather than getting a booth. It seems to be working well for them. At ASE 08 in Boston, they took all their top affiliates out on a big fishing boat and then to a nice restaurant. Then at adtech they had a big party at 2 connected nightclubs which was awesome. It was actually a group effort with them and a few other companies, especially Gene Miller and GMB Direct. Gene is pretty much a genius when it comes to these types of things, and from what Nickycakes hears, was the brains behind the mansion party. Here’s a picture of Gene with a portrait someone did of him:
Ok, so here’s the thing…the party itself was awesome, but Nickycakes was only there for like 20 minutes. Guys…don’t take a girl to Vegas with you unless you know they will be able to hang out with your work friends. Nuff said. Cakes got taken away from that party quicker than Uberaffiliates fake ID at the last ASW. But, that aside, the party was pretty jumpin. The place was packed, and you couldn’t walk anywhere without seein some people from wickedfire. There was a huge pool out back and apparently an indoor pool somewhere. Tons of hired dancers everywhere, loud music, open bar, poker tables, the works. Here are a couple pics that someone managed to snap before Nicky had to bounce:
Geoff from Advaliant, Cakes, Dan Wallace (kair0s)
Geoff, Alla the Ukranian Advaliant AM, Cakes
Was a pretty sweet shindig and laid the foundation for one of the funniest stories in ASW history.
The Copeac Palms Sky Villa Party
Copeac started the night off with a bang by hosting a poker tournament in their sky villa suite at the Palms. Nicky was supposed to take part in that, but ended up having an important dinner, and everyone knows he keeps it real when it comes to eating. Not really sure who the winner of that was, but apparently Barman came in 2nd. There was also some drama with the idiot from bannerblindness (featured at #2 in nickycakes’ 2008 top 10 worst post) throwing business cards all over the table when he lost, and then later begging for money to pay some adult entertainers for something or other since he was short on cash. Sounds like a real standup guy.
Anyway, a little about the Sky Villa suite (CX digital also had a sky villa for their party, one floor down): it’s like 6k square feet, has a jacuzzi pool which hangs out over the edge of the building, a couple bedrooms, a steam room, gym room, spinning circular bed, and pretty much anything else you could ask for in a party spot.
The party was invite only, and they had bouncers being real dicks at the door to anyone without an invite..which was great, because theres nothing better than watching bitchy drunk girls who don’t belong getting angry that they can’t get into the party. If you didn’t already have a relationship with Copeac, then it would have been pretty difficult to get an invite. But it’s not that hard to get on the list if you at least sign up and talk to whoever your affiliate manager is over there, and run a little traffic. They definately take care of their affiliates. That said, there were tons of people there. Affiliates, affiliate managers, network owners, big merchants, whoever. Place was jumpin, especially around midnight.
One of the best parts of the party was meeting some of the people from the ad approval team at Facebook. They seemed really enthusiastic about changing their policies or at least making them more clear. We’ll see, but here’s a pic of Nick with Marisa, the girl responsible for disapproving all his ads:
And then here’s one with Shoemoney:
Thanks to Mike for the party. Definately one of the coolest network owners in the biz.
CX Digital Roll Like a Billionaire Party
The venue for the CX Digital party was almost identical to the Copeac party, just one floor down, however the parties themselves were quite different. CX decided that it would be better to invite ONLY their affilaites. No employees from other networks, no merchants, no non-affiliates basically. There were really no exceptions and getting in without being on the list was near impossible. This made for a really nice party where nobody was trying to sell anything, and everyone was pretty chill and just enjoying themselves.
The food there was great. They had all these little fingerfoods catered. Especially good were the little one-bite hamburgers. They had lots of other good stuff too like shrimp and little ham sandwiches and stuff. Nickycakes could have thrown together a pretty big ass meal if he hadn’t already eaten too dinners. The best, though, was the cheesecake guy. They had this dude serving scoops of cheesecake in desert glasses and had all sorts of bangin toppings to put on them. Was really really really bangin. Cx, please get that again next year, kthx.
The entertainment was great as well. First, they had a blackjack tourney, which Nickycakes ended up not realizing was happening until it was too late. Danielle (also featured on nickycakes’ 2008 top 10 worst post) ended up winning. Looked like a lot of fun. They had quite a few hired girls walking around the party and dancing and stuff. Didn’t make for bad scenery:
Hey..nice shirts ladies…oh wait..no..that’s just paint.
Here’s the DJ:
Great party by the peeps at CX Digital.
How to Get Invited Next Time
Ok, golden opportunity to drop some referral links, but the fact of the matter is, if you’re not signed up to these networks (and yes, they have big ass parties at pretty much all the events) then you are unlikely to get invited, so sign up and build a relationship with them for next time:
Advaliant – Pretty much all the AM’s there are great.
Copeac – Jeff or Ryan are great guys to work with, so maybe ask for one of them.
CX Digital – Ask for Winkie if you already kinda know what you’re doing, or Frazier if you’re from digital point, speak broken english, you’re under 18, or you just don’t seem to be able to figure out this whole “affiliate marketing” thing.
Thanks to everyone who gave Nickycakes pictures, like Alla and Dan Wallace. Any more pics people have of parties like this, feel free to email to nickycakes at gmail so he can add the good ones to this post.
Keep it real, and stay tuned for the 3rd part..which should cover some juicy drama.
yea man it was definitely great – they definitely set up a great party – bump into gene when leaving the copeac party I think… good times
looks like you had a great time! can’t wait to hang out with ya again soon!
I wish i spent more time at the Russian.
These parties were good as far as sausage parties go… i guess its more business than getting laid, but these networks just need to bring like 50 bitches like p diddy does to get people talking about these shit for years on end.
The parties were off the hook!
Definitely worth the trip in from NZ, you aint going to see parties like that in NZ even if you were Vince from Shamwow.
Good times Nicky.
I hear you on the bringing your girl comment. I actually brought my wife, gave her the credit card and said have fun. She did her own thing I did mine. Good times.
Your right though the parties were really good. If your an affiliate and havent been to summit, you dont understand what your missing.
Hey, thanks for the pre-ASW guide, it was very helpful.
I got to the Mansion party late and after they had run out of booze twice. Had to console myself with some sushi and chicken wings.
I ended up getting the last bus home with some of the Biz Opp Network team, but it was a good party nonetheless.
I kept getting this funny smell, someone said it was jamaican old holborn but it smelt like bacon.
I couldn’t see the point in standing in the sausage fest queue at the part though, the two strippers I saw at the party were skanks.
there were plenty of better ones [allegedly] upstairs
Great Post, looking forward to the last one! Let’s make sure we give props to Wendy Kam (my fiance) for being sober enough to take some great party photos, especially that one of Tony Soprano, er I mean Gene…lol!
My favourite part of the mansion party was watching the fat guy in the recliner stuff his face with buffalo wings while half-heartedly watching the fake lesbian makeout session, awesome
i must have missed that
8th pic, see girl with black dresse’s underwear.
Lol, the picture of Gene is priceless… good work Wendy.
Nicky
Thanks for the party props and the post wrap up post. especially the rug story. OMG that is priceless.
Glad everyone had a good time. We love throwing different gigs than the usual kind of show parties. props to Gene, Jon and our other partners.
BTW and yes. NEVER take a girl to Vegas unless you are there to do nothing other than get married or only spend time. My wife was coming to see the band play and then we thought about it hmmmmm not such a good idea.
btw has anyone figured out why Jim smelled like bacon??? LOL
Damn nick, that was a great party, i really wish i was there. Man you certainly have a great day. I’m so envy