Pop-up promotions seem to be getting more and more popular, and Cookie magazine is the latest brand to try this style of experiential marketing. Dubbed Cookie Living, the title's temporary living space at Battery Park City condo development Riverhouse is designed as an environment for the Condé Nast parenting publication and its advertisers to interact directly with their target audience. The show home opened on Friday, October 10, and ends this weekend.
Heading up the in-house planning and management team is Doak Sergent, Cookie's creative services director, who sees Cookie Living as "a setting that hits even closer to home." Sergent worked closely with the editorial team, including home editor Kiera Coffee, to find appropriate designers for the four-room home and fitting activities for young children and their design-savvy parents.
Unlike typical show homes, this one is intended to be a place where kids can roam free and touch things, play with objects, and even make a mess. In fact, crumbs and other debris mean attendees can test out sponsor Dirt Devil's handheld vacuums. A daily schedule of activities—cooking demos, collage-making classes, and designer consultations—from partners Citibabes and Divalysscious Moms encourage more hands-on interaction with the space.
Promoted with e-newsletters, email and print invitations, street teams with cookies (the treat, not the magazine), and posters, Cookie Living attracts between 250 and 300 visitors per weekend, with some families hanging out all day long. "We're already talking about doing it again, and talking about taking it elsewhere," says Sergent.
