If you like cars, social media, good-looking people, or fun, you were in for a treat last Friday night if you were going to Ford’s Blue Party.  It was at the Liberty Grand in Toronto and it was one of the more fun PR events I’ve been to in ages.  Ford did a great job staging the unveiling of their 2013 vehicles.  The blue theme gave it all a majestic air.  Between the elegant decor, open bar & food service, and the toys & games, they pulled it off with the perfect blend of pageantry and whimsy.  That’s a tough combo to pull off, but I was impressed.

This candy bar was the first thing that greeted you when you walked in.  I resisted the whole night, only allowing myself one chocolate-covered pretzel near the end of the party.

You couldn’t help but be hypnotized by the animated LED wall in front of the DJ. I’ve got grand ideas for this at Harth Fest 2…

Fancy a match??

I was the blue car. I figured out how to do it without the car careening off course at the turns. I would have won my match save for one miscalculation that sent my car flying off the track!

A lot of people were very sorry that they had dinner on the way to the party once they got there and saw the huge spread of food that was available.

What could these two be waiting for?

There was a big curtain cutting the room in half.  The room was filled with the sound of the drummers, the curtain fell, and the show began!

After the cars were unveiled, there was a draw for one lucky party-goer to win a vacation! You had to be present to win, so they had to draw three names before they had a winner.

Kerri from Ford took advantage of the nails & hair bar that was there for the ladies.

Here’s me with @cammipham (on the right) and her friend whose Twitter handle I didn’t get! I was working and I had to program a bunch of tweets of the cars so we were going to swap info on the next lap but we didn’t see each other!  Everyone saw Cam Mi again though….

…as she would go on to win Best Dressed later in the evening!

See the 2012 Mustang in front of the green screen?  I’ll show you what’s up with that in another post later today and link that here.

Here is a hint:

Look who I found! What up @ValTorontoGal

Here’s me with @Frikshun and @TheDanLevy

Another lady I don’t see enough of! Hi Bella!

And then I turn around and there’s Lisa and Lauren!  This is starting to remind me of Toronto’s “Social Media Summer of Love” in 2010.

In fact, Erin (pictured here) and I were talking about how this party was like a throwback to that magical summer before the scene fragmented when a bunch of us would be at a party and Twitter was blowing up with all of the tweets from everyone who was there, everyone who wasn’t there tweeting about how much they wished they were there, and a huge chunk of everyone you knew from Twitter in attendance.  The organizers did such a good job that the #FordBlue hashtag was trending pretty early in the evening.

It was a real treat to be able to catch up with everyone, and Ford pulled off a real feat making a party feel this unique and special in the face of how ‘been there done that’ we all are about these kinds of marketing & PR events.

See you soon!

Tags: #fordblue, ford, ford blue party, liberty grand, me, photos, pics, scene, social media, toronto