Creating physical spaces: do installations make sense?
With a focus on digital media, especially social media, many brands and media outlets have turned to the web to get their messages across.
Refinery29's installation
But that doesn’t mean that physical installations don’t have a place.
Take Refinery29 for example. In September, Refinery29 knocked its second installation of 29Rooms out of the park in an 80,000-square foot Brooklyn warehouse that ran for two days. They created “29 individual rooms curated to feature the best in style, culture, and music through live performances, installations brought to life in partnership with favorite collaborators,” according to Refinery 29.
Bringing together big names like WIG OUT with RuPaul, Tinashe who created JUST DANCE, which featured an LED dance floor with two never-heard-before songs, and GURLSTALK with British model Adwoa Aboah who hung more than 500 pink telephones from the ceiling, the influencers were complimented with integrated brand partnerships, such as a glow-in-the-dark garden created with Ford, an Ulta Beauty makeup playground, a sidewalk runway designed with Michael Kors, a Fossil room featuring an interactive 3-D mural and a Papyrus party palace, according to Refinery29.
“We took over a warehouse in Bushwick and made it a place where dreams converged with reality. Each room celebrated the intersecting worlds of art, tech, fashion, and cinema in unique and interactive ways,” according to R.A. Farley in a post.
As far as agencies, Havas Chicago has taken physical installations and made it their own by adding them to their lobby, 36 E. Grand Ave in Chicago, every so often. Whether for their latest #BlackAtWork obstacle course around Black History Month in February, or their #CheckYoSelf installation around breast cancer awareness where they filled their lobby with breast balloons.
“We're all about being active rather than passive. With our recent installation, #BlackAtWork, we ignited a national conversation about what it's like to work as a black person in advertising - or anywhere - and got thousands of people walking through our lobby, asking us questions and igniting change. We don't just talk about issues ... we do something about them. Depending on what you do with it, physical activations can really make a difference,” said Jason Peterson, chairman & chief creative officer, Havas Creative US.
Brands have taken to creating physical spaces as well. Yeti, along with agency McGarrah Jessee, created a store in Austin to remind consumers, “just how wild the wild can get.” Whether you wanted to hit the outside bar, check out the Yeti Rambler slicers inside, or listen to live music on a stage built on coolers, the space does that.
To celebrate the brands 150th anniversary in 2016, Jack Daniel’s created three pop-up stores in New York, Chicago and Miami. With experiences such as local barbers, to a virtual reality tour of the distillery in Lynchburg, TN, to daytime concerts, to Southern cooking and more, the beverage brand turned to spaces to create brand excitement.
“It is very important for Jack Daniel's to create amazing experiences for our friends. As we celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN, we wanted to share a piece of our hometown by replicating the Lynchburg Hardware & General Store in three cities,” said Chuy Ostos, Jack Daniel's senior brand manager.