Mashery Pioneers the Conference Launch Hack

Mashery launched today under the guise of the Web 2.0 conference at the Palace Hotel....but no, Mashery isn't part of the conference. Mashery has executed an amazingly audacious conference hack.

1. Get VC's assistant to call hotel and secure an unused meeting room on the conference floor.
(Cost: 2 x $800/day.)
2. Hang signs on room doors that are visible from conference mingling area. (Cost: $180 printing.)
3. Go to Ikea and get stylish furniture delivered, then resell to staff for personal use at 1/2 cost. (Cost: $400 net.)
4. Hang sign in bar window across the street from the hotel entrance. (Cost: 4 x $200/day + $200 printing.)
5. Rent margarita machine and serve up snacks. (Cost: 2 x $1000/day.)
6. Arrange for miscellaneous supplies and labor. (Cost: $800.)

Total cost of stylish side pavilion serving margaritas: $5,980. Compare to $150,000 cost for Web 2.0 platinum sponsorship, which does include a room, furniture, and staff.

This loophole probably never existed before, and undoubtedly will never exist again, so it's worth celebrating on behalf of scrappy entrepreneurs everywhere.

Comments

[Mathew Ingram]

That is a brilliant idea.

[Stuart MacDonald]

Bravo, Mashery! And thanks for telling us about it, Christine.

- Stuart

[SorenG]

What are Battelle and Riley going to do to stop this? Some of it, OK, they can, but hats off to those who try to be innovative, as long as they are not lying or being disrespectful. Thanks for posting.

[Joe Rubin]

Wow - its a brilliant idea, but I'd be more than a little upset if someone did that at our FundingPost conferences!! I guess organizers will just have to buy out the whole floor :)

[pkaps]

Pioneered? C'mon, companies have been doing this (getting a suite or a room at a conference hotel) since before there was a Web 1.0. It became an art form at Comdex (I remember HP having lush suites at the Mirage, no presence on the show floor) and I'm sure continues at every trade show around.

Just because you see something at a Web 2.0 conference doesn't mean it's new... :-)

[Christine Herron]

The 'pioneering' in my mind came from the absolutely seamless integration of the Mashery cocktail area from all of the other parts of the conference; right in between the press lounge and speaker's lounge, and right at the top of the escalators that everyone takes up to the conference sessions, parties, etc. Totally different from just another room at the hotel!

[Cathy Brooks]

Splendid post ... I'd only add one line:

The look on Tim O'Reilly's face when he checked out the room on Tuesday night ... priceless.

[MartinE]

I think the fact that this guerilla marketing stunt is in fact very similiar to a real world mashup simply adds to the audacity (and yes, this is actually one of the oldest tricks in the book- if you can't afford to exhibit in a conference book the biggest suite in the hotel and put on a party).

[claybullwinkel]

Scrappy? Here's scrappy for you. The non-profit U.S.-Polish Trade Council had volunteer crews putting nice flyers into the hands of attendees in the hotel foyer Monday through today. Panel event "Web 2.0 Wave in the U.S. and Poland" Nov. 29 evening at Stanford U. Not a bad panel either including both U.S. and Polish companies. (pdf is at www.usptc.org) Their marketing cost? Maybe $300 for printing. They must have reached at least half the attendees. I saw one get chased out by hotel security and they came back!

[William]

But it is all where you look right? If you're where there's high visibility, then odds are greatest to get noticed. But then again, sometimes it is best not be seen, and let the product, minus the margarita mix, launch itself. Not to be jaded, just geographically challenged.

[dave mcclure]

better hack: let your VC take meetings with other startups that might become sister portfolio companies, and make your room the happening spot to checkout the latest stuff.

oh wait, they did that too ;)

nice job oren, josh, howard & rob!

[Charlie Crystle]

In 1997 Dave, Chris and I (the only employees at Chili!Soft at the time) hosted a margarita party across the street from COMDEX East (I think) in Atlanta at a Mexican Restaurant at the same time as an officially sponsored event that must have cost $25,000. We handed out printed invites to as many press and Microsoft employees as possible, and the place was packed.

The bill was $980, and we got 3 stories out of it and some loyal friends at MSFT. 3 weeks later we wont Best of PC Expo in New York, against IBM, Netscape, and Microsoft. It took 5 months to pay off the bill, but that's what credit cards are for, eh?

[venkat]

your site is having good contet and it is more useful to othersites i will refer it to my
friends.