Guest blog by Dr. Mark Drapeau, originally posted on BrianSolis.com, about our Photoshoot at the Warehouse:

I hadn’t heard of the popular t-shirt company Crooked Monkey until I was invited to an exclusive party they recently held. You see, even though they get great press from actors wearing their shirts in movies and magazines talking about their fashion styles, Crooked Monkey is based in Washington, DC – not widely known as the fashion capital of the country. And they wanted to do some local brand building.

This wasn’t just any party. Sure, there were attractive guests in a cool setting with great drinks and music all the usual stuff. It was what they did differently that made it the most memorable event Ive been to in a long time.

Lets start with how I even found out about the event – a secretive email from someone I didn’t know telling me that my friend recommended me as a guest for the event. This is somewhere in between Facebook and Eyes Wide Shut. Then, a request for my home address, to which was mailed a package containing an envelope with a paper invitation, and also a sparsely decorated white t-shirt, which I was required to save for the party two months later and bring with me to gain admittance. Finally, a bag of tart banana candies finished the package.

Further inspection revealed that the event was on a Sunday night (no night is safe from parties!) at a secret location to be given to us later. Keep in mind that I dont know the person behind the party, nor the other guests, and now also not the location. Still later I discovered by email invitation that the event would be in a warehouse in a not-so-savory part of Washington, DC and that we MUST bring our white t-shirts because wed be doing something with them on the night of the event.

When the day of the event came, I really couldn’t stand not knowing anything! I texted the contacts I had for the event to ask questions, but they revealed little. I emailed some socialite friends to try to figure out who else would be there we knew it would be all tastemakers of different sorts, but no one really knew who was going, which was exciting. I used Google Maps to investigate the location of the warehouse. I stressed about what one wears to such events (I think I chose well!).

Even the party itself was very engaging. An artist created a mural from our white t-shirts that we used for entry right in front of our eyes. An old-fashioned photo booth let us take pictures with each other, and the photo strips had (what else?) a Crooked Monkey logo on them. Even the name of the event Photoshoot at the Warehouse gave the party an active quality.

Do you detect a pattern here? Crooked Monkey kept busy, elite attendees who get invited to tons of events mentally engaged with their event for weeks. They made us part of telling their story. They got us to talk about their brand before, during, and after the event. And in the end, the event delivered with a cool venue, outstanding bar, fun atmosphere, and lots of fashion.

Photoshoot at the Warehouse is a great example of putting the public back in public relations and brand engagement. How great? Im writing an entire post about them – and I dont even like wearing t-shirts!

This post originally appeared on Brian Solis’ PR 2.0 site.

We haven't had a chance to write the follow up blog to the Photoshoot at the Warehouse, but I wanted to give a small glimpse of the night. We transformed a beat up warehouse in Chinatown into an impressive lounge--with lighting (pictured above), a full bar, a kicking DJ and a live graffiti artist. Everyone who attended said they were blown away with the ambiance--that this was probably the coolest party they've been to this year. Nice! Our 6 weeks of work paid off!
On Monday we'll post a blog with all the details. In the meantime read up on the press that we got for the T-shirt launch party:

-9:25 AM on Monday morning (9/21), Angie Goff (pictured above) will discuss it on WUSA Channel 9 Morning News!
-Pamela's Punch
-The Glamazon Diaries
-K street Kate
-MoCo Scene
-Amanda Nachman, CEO of CollegeMagazine.com
-DeaconDoesDC
-The Event Current
-Bisnow The scene

6 weeks into the making and 100 invites later, the day has finally arrived. We've been preparing the warehouse this whole weekend--bringing in lighting, furniture, and toilet paper.

We've spoken a little bit about our Photoshoot at the Warehouse party, but not too much about it. Mostly because were not allowed to. It's a small venue--it only fits 100 people--and the guest list is sealed. It's next Sunday night, from 9-12Pm.

We're pulling out all the stops for this party. The invite was sent out in a black envelope, with banana candy, and a t-shirt as the formal invitation. Guests will bring the t-shirt to the party and be met with a myriad of surprises. We have an awesome DJ lined up--one of DC's best. Open bar is being provided by Emperor Vodka and Magic Hat. The Bar tenders are being supplied by Mie N Yu Restaurant. The photobooth, which will provide endless entertainment and awesome pics with Crooked monkey t-shirts, is provided by PoshBooth in DC.

The surprises and good times will be documented and published on the blog on September 14th. We're super excited for bringing Crooked Monkey's new graphic t-shirts and classic humor t-shirts to DC's finest.

We're gearing up for the launch of our graphic t-shirts, with a "Photoshoot at the Warehouse" in Washington DC, mid-September.

It's going to be as much a launch of our graphic line as a celebration of how cool DC has gotten. Over the last few years I've written a lot about DC--how it's become hipper and funner everyday. It's about to get a lot cooler.

The party, featuring our t-shirts and all that DC has to offer--from Emperor Vodka to Mi n Yu in Georgetown to graffiti artists--will be a true testament to Crooked Monkey's roots in Washington DC. Now all we need is a professional sports team that can win games.

Details about the party--including the invitations, timelines and guests--will be on the blog throughout the month.

Crooked Monkey doesn't have any YouTube videos, we've kind of skipped out on that Medium. We made a pretty sweet video about our photoshoot, but we never took the raw footage to the editing room. Hopefully this summer we'll release the blockbuster.

So here's our tribute to all those unpaid Youtube Celebrities. South Park does a real funny episode on all the famous YouTube Celebrities trying to claim their "cash."

I just had a lunch meeting with the sales reps over at Hot 995 and DC101. They took me out to lunch to discuss advertising on their websites and radio stations. As you probably know we don't advertise too much on the internet but that could all change pretty soon. They've got some pretty sleek opportunities that were looking into to drive more traffic to our funny t-shirt site. We'll let you know about this as we proceed.

In other news, we just got a letter from some shady ass store that found a way to skip out of 2.5 million in debt--more details to follow.

Crooked Monkey's teaming up with thezoi.com, the College Greek telephone directory. I met the founder and his team last year in Los Angeles. It was a good time and we talked about teaming up, because we both have the same audience.

After a year of preperation we're going to be doing some cool cross promotions. The first thing we'll be embarking on is advertising on his site.

Luckily, we had that hot steamy photoshoot over the summer. Bottles, Models, and wet t-shirts. Here's our first ad for thezoi.com, and it's really our first banner ad ever. I'm quite proud of it. Shout outs to Richard Greenhouse (the photographer), the one and only Laura (our longest standing model), and Kelly (the designer who brought it all together).

We've got a tradeshow in NYC this week. Actually I'm at it right now. We're showing our new line of Hoodies, Thermals and Pants. Pretty amazing that we've expanded into the realm of pants and hoodies. To think how far we've come in the world of funny t-shirts.

The reception has been well received and we'll be posting the Fall samples for everyone to see somewhat soon. We picked up a bunch of new stores, so look out for Crooked Monkey Funny t-shirts at a retailer near you.

Instead of putting up pictures of me and and the Donald getting bottle service at some trendy lounges in the Lower East Side, I decided to put picutres of me and former-Governor Spitzer riding around town looking for prostitutes--because even though I'm not a governor I still like the hoes.

Well actually I forgot my camera on that ride, so I'll just post some pictures of the new samples of our funny t-shirts, funny hoodies, and funny pants.

For both pictures, From left: Hilary, Max, Rachel, Laura, Andre, Amanda.

Keep the comments clean!

Crooked Monkey has modeling shoots all the time, and we produce some pretty sexy pictures like the one above. The photograph was taken by Richard Greenhouse, a famed Washington DC photographer, who does all the shots on our funny t-shirt website. You can check out our Gallery for more hot, steamy pictures.

But it's not everyday that I'm asked to be the model of a photoshoot. I was quite flattered and a little nervous for my first shoot--finally understanding what our models have to go through. Leading up to the shoot I kept to a strict diet of Pizza and Fruit by the Foot.

The shoot took place in NorthEast DC at what we thought was an abandoned warehouse. There was some real cool Graffiti art about the election that we spotted and Modern Luxury wanted to use it as a backdrop for the shoot--providing a nice urban feel to the sleek outfit the set me up with. The best thing about the shoot was I didn't have to dress myself--they had stylists taking care of my appearance. I only had to make sure that my mascara looked good and my hair was gelled. I rolled up to the shoot in jeans and a Crooked Monkey Funny t-shirt. They swapped that outfit out for a sharp looking Dolce Gabana suit. The photographer told me I was a natural born model and looked comfortable in front of the camera--I told him that I already had a girlfriend but was flattered nonetheless.

Anyways, about 45 minutes into the shoot we got shoed away by the owner of the warehouse who accused us of a lot things--not fit for publication--and threatened to bust a cap in our asses. Apparently you need a permit to look this good in front of a camera. It was kind of ridiculous. She looked like the cat lady from the Simpson--but instead of cats she traveled with Monty Burns' hounds. And off we went--but not without a number of fantastic pictures--probably the only pictures in circulation of me not wearing a funny t-shirt. We'll post the pictures as soon as we get them. You'll enjoy them.