A triple vodka on the walls, please

I’m just back from helping to launch what the IT world calls a ‘disruptive’ new product, a utility computing platform called FlexiScale, for our technology client XCalibre at the Future of Web Apps expo in London. We didn’t have a huge budget to do this, but it was so important to kick off the launch with as much of the right media noise as possible. That’s why we took a gold sponsorship package for the expo – many times over what we’ve spent on any other marketing exercise.

What a result! Our gold sponsor package allowed us to meet top technical bloggers like Michael Arrington of Techcrunch and Om Malik of GigaOM at a private drinks party before the event. We also got an invite to Sam Sethi’s launch party for Blognation. As a result FlexiScale was covered by these influential blogs on the first morning of the expo and visitors were flocking to our stand to find out about the product.

Apart from the accounts we signed up on the expo floor, over 70 signed up online from all over the world over the next two nights, some of them for multiple packages – they’re still coming in as I write. And the media interviews kept coming too – ZDnet, Intruder TV and more. The blue chip names also wanted to find out about FlexiScale, so we found ourselves in deep conversation with IBM, the BBC, AOL and many others.

You may be wondering about the vodka …

While the expo itself was great, the expo organisers weren’t the tightest team and we found that our shell scheme hadn’t been cleaned since its last use. As a result our carefully crafted display panels wouldn’t stick and the stand was in severe danger of looking totally bare.

Requests for a proper cleaning agent met with blank stares and time was running out, so I sloped off to the bar for the most expensive triple vodka I’ve ever bought. It made a dandy job of cleaning the wall panels (though our stand reeked of alcohol for a good while) and we were ready for business.

XCalibre already has FOWA on its calendar for next year, but this time I’ll be packing my own vodka just in case. After all, we can always drink it if we don’t need to use it.