buzz

Have you noticed lately that stores are open one week and closed the following week? Often with nothing left to show but newspaper covered windows. You aren't going crazy! Yes the economy is in the trenches but luckily stores have used this misfortune in a positive way. In a traditional business plan, staying in business for just a few weeks would conclude as a flop. However, many brands are choosing this outcome on purpose. Pop-up stores have become a growing trend in and around New York City. Pop-up stores or stations, showcase merchandise for a limited amount of time to create buzz. Considering the bone-chilling cost of retail space and the state of the economy, this is the perfect solution to desperate landlords and brands. Pop-up stores provide brands with an alternative way to connect with customers without the burden of monthly rent.

Gap has recognized this trend and isn't missing the boat. Now through February 7th, customer's can keep their New Year's resolution at the pop-up store next to the Fifth Avenue flagship store. The pop-up store houses Gap's newest line of activewear. In addition, the space offers sessions, demonstrations, and tips from Crunch personal trainers and instructors. Shoppers can receive free Crunch guest passes or exclusive membership offers with a purchase.

Check out the latest shopping & activewear trends at the Gap Flagship store before next week's newspaper takes over the store front. 

Source: ny.racked.com

Let us begin with the email.

Date: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Subject: ummmm

You get to hear about this before the masses do:

Diesel is throwing another one of their crazy parties at a secret location, with ONE of MY FAVORITE artists DJing. It's Tuesday, October 27th, but, you WILL NEED a wristband to get in! Go to the UNION SQUARE DIESEL STORE ASAP and ask for MR. BARON and he will give you a wristband. I'm totally serious. First come, first serve.

See you Tuesday. It's gonna be crazy!

Although this email seemed a bit too Gossip Girl for me, Fashionista had reported on this alleged party shortly after I received my email. And if you know me, when Fashionista tells me to do something, I generally listen. My friends and I met at the Diesel store where we scoped out the most friendly looking sales person to ask about the secret party. “Excuse me, Hi! Ummm, I know this sounds completely ridiculous, and I apologize for harassing you while you try to sell glow in the dark denim, but I was told to ask for a Mr. Baron? Do you know anything about this?,” I said.

Before I knew it I was following a trail of confetti down the stairs into a dark room, then through a door that led to THE room. Let me set this up for you: Blaring house music, black lights, posters, glow in the dark paint…and Mr. Baron.

“Welcome.  I am Mr. Baron and this is just a taste of what you will experience next week. There are clues here about the party, but call the number on your wristband on Tuesday to find out the secret location. Be sure to wear your best black light attire. Here is your wristband. Make sure you don’t lose it—it is the only way in,” said a very thin, blond man. 

Did I mention Mr. Baron* was sitting on a chair in the middle of this empty mini rave room? This was the best thing I had experienced in a while and I couldn’t stop laughing. I alerted all of my friends from back home** of the wildness that came with living in New York.

This brings us to the event itself on Tuesday, October 27, 2009.

A lovely rainy day in New York and the last thing I wanted to do was go to this party. There was no way out, I had committed and my friends had already ironed their glow in the dark leotards. I will spare you all the details and get to the point. The party was le terrible***. There was nothing crazy or fun about it. We waited in line in the rain to realize that this was a big fat waste of a $7 cab fare.

The dance floor was packed, but nobody was dancing. They publicized a guest DJ and I expected someone fabulous (MIA and N.E.R.D performed at the party last year). But apparently the recession affected their party budget this year. Spank Rock spun…who? There was only one bar for all 500 guests. People were carrying 6 drinks at a time to avoid facing that line again. They also publicized an open bar all night—I believe open bar means free, so why did they begin charging?

Overall, I believe Diesel got what they wanted to out of the stunt. They drove traffic into their store and created a ton of buzz surrounding their new line. But after a lame no-dance party, don’t expect to see these legs in Diesel jeans any time soon.

*Mr. Baron was a petite man with a platinum blonde bowl cut, leather jacket, wearing wayfarers indoors…in a dark room.
**Home is Ohio. Yes. Ohio. No, I did not grow up on a farm.
*** ‘Le ____’ is a common Lux  Team-ism used by Lux team members at BBC.
 

Publicists in the inner media/marketing circles have been a-buzz this week with news of a formal statement from a mommy blog network—Momdot—challenging their network to blackout out all publicists, pitches, press releases, review requests, etc for one week in August to re-focus on their core passion—family.

As a long-time publicist and Internet marketer, my initial gut reaction was not a good one… “Are they kidding, who do they think they are?” “Don’t bite the mouth that feeds you, it will burn you later.” “See how much content you have without media experts sharing news with you on a daily basis,” and the likes.  After the initial sting, I took a step back and read deeper and understood the plan is more about allowing time for each blogger to get back to their roots—sharing insights on family life—and less about being upset with PR and publicity as a practice.  I myself am a mom, so I understand figuring out the balance of career and family.

So now I actually support the opportunity for our favorite mommy bloggers to take a break to look inward, to make sure they are using their popular platforms to communicate their real perspective.  But I do throw out a word of caution: A good publicist only makes a blogger (or any media outlet for that matter) look better by giving them relevant, fresh and interesting stuff to talk about.
 

Source: momdot.com, happi.com