4 posts tagged “new york”

Every store owner knows the power of grand openings. If you play your cards right, there'll be dignitaries cutting ribbons out front, coverage in the local newspaper, and a flood of curious customers coming through the door. After that, the buzz dies off and, if national statistics are anything to believe, you're on a slow and steady course to going out of business in the next two years. But what if you could harness the power of the grand opening forever? That's just what Ben and Hall Smyth are trying to do with GrandOpening on the lower east side in New York City. Every three months, their tiny storefront will become something new. Right now, it's PONG, the only single-table ping pong parlor in world history (I didn't have time to research that, so I'm just guessing). What will GrandOpening become three months from now? Ah, the fun is in not knowing.


Via The Cool Hunter.

Meet Justin Gignac. Justin sells garbage. New York City garbage. Want some? You can get your very own box of garbage for a mere $50. According to Justin's slick and savvy web site, he's already sold more than 700 boxes to garbage lovers all over the world. That's a cool $35,000. Which, I should point out, is about $35,000 more than Vincent van Gogh made in his entire lifetime. I'm not judging, I'm just saying. This garbage project is art, after all. Justin graduated from art school and everything. He even signs and numbers each box. You see, Justin isn't just selling garbage, He's selling an idea. A story. Even a little romance. And, with a dash of marketing genius thrown in, he's laughing all the way to the bank. Van Gogh. on the other hand, just painted stars and stuff. Which is why he went out into a field and shot himself in the heart at age 37.

Via Core77.

Now here's an ambient campaign I really like. To me, this idea is fun and doesn't ruin the streetscape (no more obtrusive than an awning sign, really). And it really reinforces the brand promise of strength and convenience. From Saatchi & Saatchi. Via Adrants.

Not sure what to think about this street campaign for FedEx/Kinko's by BBDO. Okay, you can buy office supplies at FedEx/Kinko's. Including, apparently, this product nobody has used or even seen since 1989. Look at the young guy in the lower photo. As far as he knows, that bottle of typewriter correction fluid is actual size. I'm not even sure the creative team knows what that stuff does. Another execution in this same campaign shows a giant highlighter that has just painted a curb yellow. That makes sense. But this archaic bottle of correction fluid hasn't corrected anything. Creative, yes. A little forced, yes. On strategy, I'm not so sure.

And do we really want our street corners taken over like this? Really?

Via AdverBox.