Oasis Ball

Well, the Oasis Ball pictures have been up for a about a week, so I guess it's time to actually write about them. The Oasis Ball is the annual awards banquet for the advertising industry in Perth. Every year the industry comes together to award the team/company that persuaded the Perth/Australian consumers better than the rest. And this year, what better way to celebrate than with an award show themed "Exotica."

The event took place at the Perth Convention Centre, a state of the art facility located directly downtown on the Swan River. For the Ball, the governing body had rented out of the main ballrooms with an outdoor balcony overlooking the downtown CBD (Central Business District), the Swan River, and South Perth. It was a beautiful site that only got more extravagant as the night progressed.

The Oasis Ball kicked off with drinks and music in the reception area outside the main ballroom. I arrived with Mark Pinney and Ronnie Duncan (Mark is my boss and Ronnie is one of the founders) around 6:30 in the evening and it was quite a site. Upon entering I was greeted with a royal reception as everyone, except for myself, was dressed in suits, tuxes, and ball gowns. I chose the more sensible route and wore jeans and a black button-down with aviators. I felt a bit under dressed for all of 27 seconds until I ran into Mike Edmonds, the other founder, who was wearing jeans, converse all-stars, and a button-down shirt with flaming skulls on the shoulders. Very classy. But, we were over-dressed compared to some; Namely the man and woman (both part of the "exotica" theme) dressed in only thongs and body paint. He looked like Tarzan and she was dressed/painted like a leopard.

The reception area was adorned with paintings, sporting memorabilia (Australian national rugby jersey signed, cricket bats and balls, posters), and other various items (a Les Paul guitar signed by Eric Clapton, a framed Sopranos poster signed by the entire cast) all up for grabs in the silent auction. Not much of the betting type, I opted to enjoy the free champagne, beer, and wine while listening to the sounds of a traditional African band (just think of the sound of drums from any movie involving Africa) playing in the corner.

Once the ceremony began the "exotica" theme took full figure as the crowd was thoroughly entertained by belly dancers, gypsy women, fire dancers, Middle-Easter prices/dancers, smoke machines, a Moroccan hookah bar, waiters in Japanese garb and masks, and most notably Tarzan and Leopard-woman. Intermingled were different presentations honoring people and their achievements, the vast majority being the achievements of not-for-profit organizations (for which all the proceeds of the Oasis Ball would go). Honorable cause (proceeds to charity) and a great idea considering the massive silent auction, the live auction (of different advertising things, such as insertions, TV spots, etc), and the raffle for a trip to Mauritius. Once all the different speakers and auctions were finished, the award ceremony began.

Meerkats was finalists in three different categories (there were only about 10); Namely Campaign of the Year, Advertisers of the Year, and Agency of the Year. With high hopes the ceremony commenced as we brought home the Campaign of the Year award for iinet, the second largest internet provider in Australia. Mike and Ronnie accepted the award with great humility as they gave the only speeches that weren't self-promoting and exceedingly arrogant. I felt proud to be part of such an organization.

Once the ceremony wrapped up and the emcee said his final thoughts, the formal stage was over. Now began the actual party as a massive dance floor was revealed behind the hookah bar (the dance floor looked as if someone had raided Vegas). It was about the size of a basketball court and full of flashing lights (just like the Vegas strip) and smoke machines. Practically everyone ended up on the floor dancing and having a great time shaking our butts to the sounds of Lynard Skynard and Madonna.

What a great night and a once in a lifetime experience. I hope my pictures do more justice than my writing, but I wanted to keep the text to the basic descriptions, otherwise I would be going on for ages.