The results are in from the Loews Denver Hotel's Scrooged contest -- in which workplaces that can't afford an office party could submit three-minute videos to YouTube featuring their boss and the reasons why the office deserves a festive holiday gathering. And judging by the winner's dry humor, that party is going to be a fun one.
The hotel, 4150 East Mississippi Avenue, created the contest last month after hearing about how many offices in Denver and nationwide were canceling Christmas parties this year as a way to save money during the current recession. It offered a reception, complete with free food, drinks and live entertainment.
Surprisingly, only two companies responded, says Loews marketing director Cindy Lew. But the winner was a good one: "Party On," a video by the Greenwood Village-based Investment Management Consultants Association, which has about 25 employees. In it, IMCA executive director Dede Pahl lays out everything the association accomplished last year along with humorous takes on how that would have to change in 2009.
For instance, she reminisced about how new members received briefcases and coffee mugs in 2008, but not next year. The video then cut to an image of an employee writing a name with a marker on a plastic cup and putting a paper clip into a white envelope.
"It was a great submission," Lew says. "We liked the video and where they were coming from." IMCA, which did plan to have a holiday luncheon, will now donate the money it would have spent to the Food Bank of the Rockies.
The party will be December 18. The video clip is below. -- Jonathan Shikes
