After the ballyhoo T-Mobile USA made to debut Google Music in Los Angeles last November, the mobile brand's event on Wednesday night seemed almost subtle by comparison. With little in the way of logo placement, the media preview in the rooftop space of meatpacking-district restaurant Catch was designed to build buzz around the new HTC One S smartphone a week prior to its release in stores. The evening affair was also timed to the "No More Mr. Nice Girl" ad campaign that debuted the night before and saw spokesperson Carly Foulkes dressed in a skintight leather bodysuit.
“This campaign is a lot different from what we’ve been running for the past 18 months,” T-Mobile's senior vice president of brand, advertising, and communications, Peter DeLuca, told the crowd. “We’re going to be focusing on both technology and the speeds of our network.”
Technology certainly had a place at the event, with touch-screen cocktail tables programmed with images of the HTC One S and the brand's logo. A tent enclosed a portion of the outdoor terrace to create a listening-slash-demo lounge for the new handset and its "Beats by Dr. Dre" sound component. T-Mobile reps staffed this area, answering questions and explaining the features. Back inside the venue, a large plaster replica of the Dr. Dre headset hung over the DJ area, while a photo booth allowed guests to upload images to their social networks.
Other nods to T-Mobile included pink floral arrangements and white furnishings—the company's signature colors—as well as female waitstaff dressed as Foulkes. The T-Mobile-girl look-alikes passed around cocktails and bite-size appetizers, including mini tacos and crispy shrimp. EMM Group, the hospitality management company that owns and operates the venue, also brought in two of Catch’s chefs to work the self-serve sushi station, which invited guests to enjoy unlimited servings of sashimi and seaweed salad plated on small dishes. Detroit indie-pop band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. also appeared for a short musical performance.
