| EVENT REPORT 05.12.04 12:00 AM |
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| Bowie Bows for Audi Promo |
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| Given the choice between being honored at the American Apparel and Footwear Association's American Image awards and attending a private David Bowie concert, two members of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's cast, Kyan Douglas and Ted Allen, chose the latter. The fab duo skipped the awards at the Grand Hyatt and instead spent the evening at Audi and Conde Nast's Never Follow event at the Hammerstein Ballroom, the carmaker's marketing campaign that honors individuals across different industries. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | Audi filled the Hammerstein Ballroom with four red fabric-draped areas for its Never Follow event. Two circular bars in the center of the room featured multitiered shelves dripping with teardrop-shaped glass ornaments. White calla lilies decorated the circular seating areas. |
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 | | White walls and carpeting covered the venue's entryway. Large photographs of the evening's honorees covered the walls. |
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 | | Susan Edgar of Flowers, Sticks and Stones draped red, silver, gold and blue fabrics from the ceiling of a Persian palace-themed room dedicated to Iranian author and journalist Azar Nafisi. White tulips, red orchids and potted ferns gave the room an exotic, romantic atmosphere. |
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 | | Stage costumes borrowed from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, flat-screen monitors that played music videos and portraits filled the room dedicated to David Bowie. |
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Conde Nast conceptualized the Never Follow campaign two and a half years ago at the request of Audi's advertising agency, McKinney and Silver. The campaign kicks off with a gala event in New York followed by a series of events during the rest of the year centered around each honoree, and special advertising inserts with photography by Mark Seliger run in the May issues of several Conde Nast magazines. This year's event honored Bowie, Iranian author Azar Nafisi, 14-year-old soccer phenom Freddy Adu and actor William H. Macy. Audi event marketing manager Maria Nahigian and Kingdom Entertainment produced the event.
White walls and carpeting filled the Hammerstein's lobby, offset by Seliger's fanciful portraits of the honorees. Inside, four red curtained-off areas contained mini-museums dedicated to each honoree. Inspired by a Persian palace, Susan Edgar of Flowers, Sticks and Stones draped red, silver, gold and blue fabric from the ceiling in Nafisi's room, and blue ottomans, potted ferns and big vases filled with white tulips and red orchids gave the room an exotic, romantic atmosphere. Copies of Nafisi's newspaper articles in gold frames hung from scrolling gold grates that skirted the room.
Macy's room, a speakeasy-style lounge, featured caricature drawings of scenes from the actor's past films. ("We were trying to re-create the Polo Lounge in Hollywood, which was built in the 30's," said Kingdom's Chip Quigley.) Adu's room—filled with his uniforms, trophies and a Sony PlayStation set up to play soccer video games was simply a tribute to youth and soccer. "It's Freddy's rec center, basically," Quigley said. Flat-screen monitors showing music videos and portraits filled the room dedicated to Bowie. "Bowie got involved personally and made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame give me costumes," Quigley said.
Multitiered shelves dripping with teardrop-shaped glass ornaments stood inside large circular bars, and white calla lilies decorated the circular seating areas. After the cocktail portion of the evening and a few remarks from Conde Nast chief marketing officer Richard Beckman and Audi of America vice president Axel Mees, the supergrid that held the red curtains lifted to clear the sight lines for the Bowie concert. (The crowd was pretty impressed by the transformation of the room—Iman even took pictures.) Bowie performed a nine-song set for an ecstatic group of guests.
This year's Never Follow event series will feature a literary tour with Nafisi, a film festival for Macy and a soccer clinic for Adu. Audi is also sponsoring Bowie's 38-city concert tour this year. Like Mercedes-Benz's sponsorship of Fashion Week and other high-profile events, the Never Follow campaign is more about pushing the brand than pushing the cars themselves. "We've gotten good, positive feedback in terms of brand awareness and brand exposure," Nahigian told us a few days after the event. "The main purpose is to impact the brand."
—Suzanne Ito
Read about last year's Never Follow event...
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