Last Tuesday, I experienced an emotion that I have never felt in my life.
Its not often that one can say that with certainty. Let me explain. For the last 3 months or so, I have been working on a project that culminated Tuesday. It all started when my Beatles tribute band went to Webster Hall and I was introduced to Lon Ballinger, the club’s owner. I eventually asked him if Webster Hall was pursuing a digital media strategy, and we had a long conversation about what that meant. Within a few weeks I found that the task was mine.
Soon after that, I was approached by Shane Savant (who choreographs the club’s dance performances and hosts some racy weekly burlesque parties). Shane told that he had met a guy from Sharp who wanted to talk to us about some sort of video sponsorship. Within a few days, I was on the phone with Judah Zeigler, the Associate Vice President of Retail & Consumer Marketing Group and the guy who made Sharp’s HD deals with NASCAR, NBC and Major League Baseball. After weeks of negotiations, I managed to swing a deal whereby Sharp would GIVE us 133 HD Screens ranging in sizes of 19 up to 65 inches. This is about $800,000 worth of retail product. In return, we offered a multitude of brand exposure and the use of the entire club, free of charge, one day per year. As soon as Judah heard that part of the offer, he jumped on it. July 15, 2008 was the date of the MLB All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. And Sharp is the official video partner of MLB. And Webster Hall was going to be the site of the only officially sanctioned All Star Game party attended by 1500 people.
Although I had never done anything even remotely like this before, I promised Sharp that the majority of the screens would be installed, cabled, networked and operational by July 15. I put together a great team of people and got cracking. I had my deadline and it was inviolate.
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