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Definiti-ly not
a good evening.
For all their
marketing savvy, and endless pockets, Imperial Tobacco's Definiti events
have drawn surprisingly small crowds and not much "buzz".
Our own
reviewers found events in Ottawa (October 4, 23) and Montreal (October
28) drew under 150 people, even though they had been heavily promoted
for weeks before.
Other reviews
found on the clubbing discussing groups were equally unkind.
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Reviewed
by Naomi
Baker for PSC.
It is a Saturday
night and a couple of my friends join me to escape the chills of a cool
fall night to see DJ Disciple at Vibe, one of the trendy new clubs in
town.
There’s a lot of hype to the event — it’s pegged on the Definiti.ca
website as one of the “hottest events across Canada,” but when we arrive
after 11 we realize we are early— very early— or this is going to prove
not to be a “hot” event. |
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There is no sign
of the line-ups that used to circle this venue, and in no time we have
handed over our $15 tickets and have been whisked inside to be greeted
by enthusiastic Austin Powers and Dr. Evil look-alikes and a glass of
bubbly.
I’m not sure how
tasteful midget celebrity look-alikes were, but a glass of free
champagne I can handle.
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We were
greeted at the door by Austin Powers and Mini-Me look alikes.
What's that about? |
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The first thing I noted was a lit up glass case at the entrance
displaying boxes of DuMaurier cigarettes as if they are the crown
jewels.
Dry ice is wafting through the room and a smoky atmosphere is created
which is no mean feat in Ottawa where smoking is banned in bars — or is
it?
Three guys are on the dance floor, but they’re not dancing. They each
light up cigarettes and stand there—smokin’. There are at least 30
people working at this event (and not that many guests), but no one
steps in to ask them to butt out.
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Then I see her, through the “smoke” from dry-ice and cigarettes: a
“cigarette girl”, tall, beautiful and dressed to kill. She has a tray
with cigarettes and lighters. The tray does display a warning and I go
over to say hi. We chat for a bit and she tells me she doesn’t work for
the Tobacco Company or Definiti but is on a contract with her modelling
agency from Toronto.
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The du Maurier
Cigarette girls were paid $100 per hour -- even though they sold only 2
packs that night |
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I wonder if she realizes looks can kill, especially if they can
entice someone to try a couple of cigarettes, create an addict and a
devoted customer. So far the whole event seems to be a magazine ad come to life. Models
have jumped off the page and created a fantastical world. But who lives
in this world? A few people have arrived and are mingling between
floors, but as clubs go, it is barren and rather boring. |
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In the washroom I meet a woman in fishnet stocking who is fixing her
silvery bodysuit. She is the genuine article, a go-go dancer, one of
four or five women hired to get the party started. On my way out of the loo I am “captured by the paparazzi” - the
official photographer of the event. He then gives me a Definiti card
which informs me there is a 99.9% chance I will be on their website in
next few days.
I make my way
past trays of cut sandwiches on the bar that I wouldn’t touch, but a
drunk person might, back upstairs and I am informed that I should use an
alternate staircase and I realize they are going to limit the event
circulation to one staircase for now, a tactic used to make the place
feel busier. |
Go go gadget
dancer
!
Here's me
- Naomi - "caught by the Papparazzi" |
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The event
co-ordinators must be slightly disappointed because I have to give them
credit they have done their job well. I just don’t know if Ottawa is
ready, at least yet, it’s only 12:30am.
I decide to be a bit of a brat, and test both my fancy new DuMaurier
lighter and respect for the Ottawa bylaw by trying to light one of the
cigarettes. I don’t inhale, but I let it smoulder for a few minutes,
making sure that the organizers could see it. Not a peep of protest. |
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Mine isn’t the only cigarette burning — cigarettes were definitely
plentiful. I thought Ottawa had a ban on smoking in bars…I guess the
owners look the other way when the event is bought and paid for by a
cigarette company. I won’t say that this event never got “hot” — I’ll just say that it
didn’t heat up when I was there. |
The dance
floor wasn't exactly packed. |
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My friends and I bailed around 1:30,leaving a small number of
customers to enjoy the wee hours and “feel the heat.”
But it’s all just smoke and mirrors—by tomorrow these troubadours
will box up their light show, display cases and cigarette cases until
the next city and the next event. The musicians, actors, models, dancer,
photographer, coordinators, techies, roadies and the other folk hired by
Definiti to create this tableau will move on. The show will go on,
commercials and all. |
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This Ottawa event is one of dozens being held across Canada by
Imperial Tobacco’s marketing arm Definiti. It is an attempt to step
around the Tobacco Act’s ban on branded sponsorship ban which
came into effect October 1st 2003.
Yet the Tobacco Act explicitly bans ‘lifestyle’ advertising,
which it defines as one which ‘associates a product with, or evokes a
positive or negative emotion’.
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American
beauties or just weird marketing???
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I think back to my feelings of being in a magazine ad during this
event, and wonder how the whole thing could not be construed as one big
lifestyle promotion.
The event I attended challenged both Ottawa’s smoking ban and
Canada’s restrictions on tobacco promotions. Hopefully government will
use a little more energy to make these marketers "feel the heat" than I saw that
night on the Vibe dancefloor.
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A
Tribe discussion group subscriber gave this review of a
Definiti Toronto event:
DEFINTI mind controld party
aka Arrested Development and
Grand Master Flash. |
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What a fucking joke
this party was. I tried my best not to
be cynical, but c'mon people, is this was its come to now??
Did anyone else feel like a big experiment to see if brand
recognition from Du maurier to Definiti will work with the
youth?. I felt like there was a one way mirror behind the
walls with a bunch of marketing executives watching our
every move.
Not that there was any place to go. They had us packed in
like sardines, enough to make several people I know leave
after waiting an hour to get inside.
Arrested Development kicked ass, hearing Mr Wendel was
obviously the high point. Then DJ DuMaurier gets on the
decks and starts playing a set of cheesy club house before
Grand Master. The crowd started to boo the guy hard, so they
cut him off.
Grand Master Flash was introduced by this 10 minute segue of
him playing for the Queen of England and all this other
shit. A blatant excuse for getting us to stare at the screen
and notice their superimposed ads. This is not hip hop
people, he's a DJ, not fucking Bono.
I honestly left after his first song because I could not
take this any longer. I'm not some adbusting anticapitalist
or anything, but THAT WAS FUCKING SCARY. |
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