Alcohol brands are getting very creative with their event marketing ideas. To put a spotlight on their product, Stoli Elit hosted a full-blown "Banya" fraternity at the Russian Baths on East 10th Street last week. The brand invited an all-male cluster of "tastemakers" to get scrubbed and massaged, and then to feast on vodka and caviar.
This is a great marriage of two great Russian traditions," said Jim Schleifer, who oversees the brand. "Stoli and a fantastic cold-water platza oak-leaf beating."
We put our BlackBerrys away and got our butts beaten," said television personality Tony Potts. "Doing this every week would be good for most New Yorkers."
Tony Disanto, the founding partner of production studio DiGa, had a different strategy when it came to taking the heat. "I'm having a little vodka first to get the shyness out of the way," he smiled. "The beating will go down easier too."
Gary Spitalnik of NetJets/Marquis Jet has been coming to the baths for the past 15 years.
"Everyone is here for one reason," he said. "And that's to sweat out to rigors of the tough New York day."
A reception on the patio upstairs was more serene. Relaxed, bathrobed guests enjoyed ice vodka sculptures and traditional Russian chanterelle soups and pilmeny short ribs, served by strategically cast female models.
"This was like a scene from 'Eastern Promises,' " said Derrin Woodhouse, an executive at Vevo. "Except I didn't get slashed up in the end."
—Valentine Uhovski