Thursday, February 24, 2000

Icon-Nicholson exceeds expectations ~ by Bernardo Joselevich


I had high expectations from the Icon-Nicholson party at the Puck building, but they were surpassed by a wild, opulent party, that took place in two huge floors, including the actual offices of the company (which embody the American dream of a lava lamp in every cubicle).

Icon-Nicholson is the New York office of Icon Medialab, the largest Internet consultancy in Europe (headquartered in Sweden, with 200 offices in 14 countries). Their marketing director, Debra Boulanger, explained to me what it's all about: "2000 is the year of global deployment of the Internet, were it will stop being a mostly America-centered medium. Barriers to entry outside the USA remain low, but the hidden challenges are many and tough". The challenges of her party were also many: How to choose among the Hennessy cocktails on
offer? Dance floor or the schmoozy upstairs spaces? How to greet all the huge representation of Silicon Alley in attendance? Among them: Dara Tyson of InternetWorld/Penton Media, Syl of Hipguide.com (whose current
fame makes her first name sufficient, Cher-like), VC Renee Grossman of Counsel Corp., Claire Moynihan of Smartray.com, Zack Bayer of Silicon Alley Reporter, road-show coach Mary Dawne Arden, Amy Ehrenreich and
Edie Meyer of Promotions.com (formerly Webstakes.com).

I took as a souvenir one of the hundreds of inflatable balls with the map of the world that were all over the place, a reminder of the Internet land grab awaiting out there too.