First, we should get a couple of things straight. I don’t know Coco personally. I mean, I’ve seen his show a couple of times and he seems like a pretty chill guy, like maybe we could bro down for some lolz over a meme or two.
So “ruined my life” might be a little dramatic. Like I said, I don’t know Coco and there’s a small chance he hasn’t even heard of me. I guess I should start from the start and maybe you can make up your own mind.
A couple of weeks ago, BV asked Adam B and I to do something creative for our monthly agency get together. BV is the GM of DTDigital & OgilvyOne. So asked = told.
Adam and I thought about lots of crap. Puppet shows, bacon ice-cream and naked twister. Mostly bacon ice-cream. Finally Adam exclaimed “I’ve got it”. But he didn’t. So we decided to do something stupid – Break the Foursquare Swarm World Record.
Ogilvy Melbourne has around 280 staff. Our research indicated that we only needed 252 people to beat the record set at the Iron Man 2 premiere in Jakarta. Things were looking good. All we needed was a compelling reason for people to start checking in to Ogilvy Melbourne. Enter the iPad.
When BV actually agreed to give one away to a random Foursquarer on the night, we figured we’d push it a little further. We got dual big screen projectors. We tripled the beer budget. We got more chicken than Marty McFly. We were gunna put on a motherflipping show.
It was an epic success. The agency had mad sweet vibe. Adam and I were all up on the mic, dropping bombs like a lolocaust. Two 7s gave me their numbers at the event at the same time, which is like a 10 carry the 4 to the morning after. And then - we did it. We got over 265 check-ins. The rest of the night is a blur.
In the morning, I woke up feeling pretty happy with myself. Adam had texted me some gibberish about “location, location, location”. It wasn’t funny, but I smiled all morning. Right up until I got an email from David Trewern, the DT in DTDigital. Turns out Conan O’Brien had broken the same record, 7 hours earlier on the other side of the world, with at least 323 check-ins.
And that’s how Conan O’Brien ruined my life. Our one shot at caching our names in browser history. But you know what? Australia’s first Super Swarm badge will always belong to us, despite previous attempts at the MCG, Her Majesty’s Theatre and the carpark at Norflands. Ogilvy Melbourne is one of only six Super Swarm locations in the world. And I've got a pair of 7s for a lonely cold Friday night. What numbers you holding there, Coco?