Social RevUp And Cadillac: How We Roll.

Back in September, I shared the exciting news that I was partnering with MJ Tam and Dwana De LaCerna to create Social RevUp, a company committed to connecting brands and bloggers through customized events as well as the Brands and Bloggers Summit, a conference that will be held on July 21, 2012 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago.

We had a Social RevUp launch party in late October that was really fun, and a great way to step “into the scene” together. Then things got quiet for the month of November as we worked behind the scenes on the BBSummit and a few other things we have coming down the pike.

On Monday evening, we had our first post-launch, official event as Social RevUp, The Season’s Best Event (Yes we copied from Cadillac: it was a perfect fit!), to be more specific, sponsored by Cadillac. We were charged by Connie Burke of Cadillac to put on an event that made use of social media, had great presence of the brand (and upheld the integrity of the brand, style-wise), included a majority of attendees who had never worked with (or had hardly worked with) the General Motors brands, and included a little bit of time for Connie to make a presentation about:

1. The Cadillac brand itself
2. How she, and Cadillac/General Motors as a whole, prefers to be introduced to and work with bloggers: what she looks for in a partner blogger, what she expects out of vehicle reviews, and other fine points
3. What Cadillac has coming up in the next year

Well, we did it. It was a ton of work, but it was happy work. What I love about working with MJ and Dwana is that each of the three of us has specific talents, and we mesh together very, very well. The event was a great success in our opinion, Connie was happy with it, and we have received great feedback from attendees. It was a win-win-win!

The event was held at Reza’s Restaurant on Ontario in the River North area of Chicago. The food was fantastic, and for dessert there was an amazing cake that was created by Vinny Garcia, co-owner and Cake Designer Extraordinaire of the Bleeding Heart Bakery.

We started the evening by welcoming our attendees and telling them about the social media games we’d play. Basically everyone got entries into our prize drawing for various kinds of tweets they sent out, like Cadillac buzzwords from Connie’s speech, pictures of them with one of the two Cadillac vehicles parked outside, short video reviews, etc. (We used the hashtag #CadillacRock, because we wrote part of the invitation to the tune of “Jingle Bell Rock”.) We were beyond thrilled to find out that #CadillacRock twitter trended that night. (It was definitely the icing on the proverbial cake!)

We also had a Twitter party going on simultaneously, for those who couldn’t be at the event personally.

At the end of the evening, we gave away the centerpieces, Blue Man Group tickets, John Hancock Observatory tickets, a pass to BBSummit ’12, a $100 Tiffany & Company gift card, and a Grand Prize package that included a $500 gift card to Four Seasons Hotels (which operates both the Four Seasons AND the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago), Blue Man Group tickets, John Hancock Observatory tickets, AND a weekend loan of a Cadillac!

Many thanks to our blogger co-hosts Maureen (@wisconsinmommy) of the Wisconsin Mom Squad, Toni (@itstoni) of Food (Just Sayin’), and Johanna (@mommacuisine) of Momma Cuisine. Thanks (so much) also to Stephanie (@bellewsc) of Fete and the Muse, who will probably develop early-onset arthritis as a result of having to write down so many twitter entry slips for three hours straight, and to Amy (@AmySphere) of ParentSphere for hosting our Twitter party!

It was a fabulous night. Here are some pictures that were taken by the ever-talented Fabie of Lahleyoo, whose website can be found by clicking here. (I highly recommend using him if you need a talented photographer in the Chicago area!)

The entrance to our event:

The tables were simply decorated with scattered centerpieces and information about Cadillac.

Connie’s presentation was informative, interesting, and at just the right times, funny.

Though we didn’t have our party in the bar area, I had to include this picture. Reza’s is a beautiful restaurant.

Yeah, I’d take a Cadillac, wouldn’t you? They are gorgeous vehicles that have things you wouldn’t even think about, like heated/cooled cup holders (!!!) and heated steering wheels.

Amy and Stephanie held down the fort at Command Central.

The prizes? Phenomenal. (I’m jealous!) Congrats to all who won!

Though I giggled at posing for this shot because it looks like Dwana, MJ, Connie and I had just gotten married (we hadn’t), I really love it. It’s a great group shot AND you can see the detail on the cake. WOW!

All in all, it was a great night. Thanks to everyone who came out for it: having a full house during Christmas week was something we weren’t certain we’d be able to pull off, but it happened. We appreciate everyone who took the time out of their busy schedule to join us, and hope that everyone learned a lot while having a great time!