CAMPAIGN DIARY: Saatchis’ fancy dress party turns out more like a costume drama

It seems the ad industry just loves dressing up, as revealed by the

host of themed Christmas parties.

Mark Wnek apparently stole the show as an Arabian prince at Euro RSCG

Wnek Gosper’s ’Eastern Promise’ party last week, while those song-lovers

at WCRS are hard at work on their costumes for their ’Stars in Their

Eyes’ party next week.

However, Marcus Brown, new-business director at Saatchi & Saatchi,

offers a cautionary tale to those in costume. ’If anything goes wrong,

you feel a right prat dressed in your wig and make-up,’ as he

discovered.

Saatchis chose a rather cheerless theme this Christmas with its ’Dress

for the Grave’ party.

Brown’s rather unusual take on the theme was bringing someone back from

the grave - namely, the dead king of rock ’n’ roll, Elvis Presley.

But disaster struck when one of the many pretend corpses at the party

threatened to become real. A certain person from dispatch couldn’t take

his booze and was out cold in the loos.

As the revellers failed to rouse him, Elvis - as the agency’s chief

first-aider - stepped in, putting the corpse into the recovery position,

racing around to call an ambulance and briefing the paramedics when they

arrived.

’I just told them not to step on my blue suede shoes,’ he says.

This article was first published on Campaign