Ok, today I had probably THE most fun rep lunch I have ever had in the history of having lunches with sales reps.  Fantabulously awesome co-worker Lindsay and I met our reps from Meredith Interactive (the online partners and publishers of Better Homes & Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, More magazine, etc.) for lunch at Zelo. First of all, Zelo is our default. It’s the closest “nice” restaurant to our building (except for Manny’s, but that just moved and I’m not counting it for lunch yet since it’s a steak house).

Anyway, these reps. They’re in their mid-twenties, like us. Still-trying-to-be-kids playing the roles of advertising professionals… Either way, I swear to God it was like being at lunch in high school with my girlfriends – gossiping, giggling, and talking about boys.

The inevitable question (or some version thereof) of “are you married/dating anyone?” came up, and when it was my turn, I said, “No. Well, no. I mean. I think I had a date a couple of weeks ago, and I’m hanging out with the same guy again tomorrow, so maybe that means something?” And they all weighed in on my recap of the “date” that had passed a few weeks ago… I asked him, it was casual, he paid, there was a hug, it was really REALLY fun, etc. They said that counts.

Tomorrow, we’re going to the really big Minnesota deal of a State Fair here and apparently, since it’s a FRIDAY, it counts as a date again.

Then they asked who the guy was. I knew where this was headed, since he’s a guy in the same industry who knows these two reps (we’ve talked about them before). I gave his name, and they immediately reacted in support of the whole thing: “He’s so cute!” “Oh! I love that guy!” “I bet he is SO much fun!”

Well… yes, uh huh, and yup.

So anyway, we didn’t ONLY talk about that, but the four of us sat over an hour and a half lunch talking more about boys and music and bars and mutual friends/acquaintances than we did about the business at hand.

I won’t tell them this, but… it makes me want to put money on their website just because I like them. Damn, that means they’re good at their job and have me right where they want me… Jerks.

The bigger picture to all of this is realizing how intertwined our industry is and how many people know each other. Especially on the digital side of things, we’re all so young and excited and energetic, and we’re forming relationships and partnerships that will likely extend professionally and personally for a long time. At least, I hope so. I want to move around the industry a bit, but I want to keep up these contacts both as a professional network and as some really good friends between here and Chicago.

Either way, I owe my new rep friends a full recap of tomorrow’s happenings sometime on Tuesday. In the spirit of the agency biz, I promised a .ppt or a .pdf complete with pictures and everything.