Living Like A Rock Star!

My company has been planning the rebranding and renaming of itself for the past 4 months and they've been teasing us with clues for the past month and building hype and momentum for the change. I have to admit that if they hadn't gone to such extraordinary lengths to build the hype I probably wouldn't have really cared, but they did a really great job in getting everyone excited about it.

They began with setting up a website where they would release video clues every day for a week. Each revealed a clue to the new name and they even got some famous local personalities to be in the videos. They also had hidden easter eggs on the site that made it fun to discover and figure out. On top of that, they mailed out phony recruiting letters from a company that basically stood for everything my company didn't. Then they sent out decoy and funny emails that tried to mislead everyone into thinking the new name was some other name.

But the finale was the brand launch party which was just held last night. We were told that it was a "red carpet attire" event and everyone was very excited to see what the company had planned for us. The night started at a very unusual location. We were told to meet at small unknown menswear store downtown. When we got there we were told to look around and accessorize as we wanted to and the company would pay for it. Since it was a mens store, mostly it was just the guys that got to have fun. Some got funky hats and shoes and some got snazzy new ties.

Then we were told to go across the street where limos were picking people up to take us to the party location. We got into the limo and were driven a few blocks away to a bar/club that had been reserved for the night. There were spotlights in front with a policeman and security guards and of course the red carpet. We got out of the limo and literally walked the red carpet. Immediately after entering through the doors, we were greeted by a crowd of fanatic students that were all wearing t-shirts with our new name and yelling for autographs and basically treating us like stars. There were photographers too and we had fun being "famous" and signing their shirts and papers. After the crowd of fans we were individually announced as we walked down the stairs to the party. It was a pretty wild scene and experience.

The party itself was pretty top notch too...open bar, buffet lines, sushi bar, cigars a live band. There were also other unusual "treats" like a room to pamper yourself with make-up artists, color experts and tattoo (paint) artists. There was also a store wher the company gave everyone $200 to order company apparel with the new name.

Overall it was a pretty fun night, and while I'm not usually into the whole company party thing, I'm really glad I went to this one. It was fun to live like a rock star for one night!