It’s been two years since Esquire last came to town with a pop-up in a multi-million-dollar home, but this season the magazine is back. This installment took over a nearly $19 million, 9,000-square-foot luxury residence in the Hollywood Hills, which was completely rebuilt and outfitted by top designers. The pop-up went live on October 15, has hosted an array of events public and private, and will host two more private events before officially wrapping for the season on December 10. The magazine’s associate publisher for marketing Stephen Jacoby and integrated marketing director Dawn Sheggeby oversaw the program internally, tapping the Authentic agency for the executive production.
The concept of a tricked-out residential pop-up for the magazine originated in 2003, with the Esquire apartment in New York. Since then, it has alternated coasts, with events in New York and L.A. every other year. So what differentiates the experience locally? “First, you have the weather, which makes for more indoor/outdoor [events and experiences],” said Jacoby. “And we get a lot more celebrities in L.A., so that makes the parties a little more fun. From a marketing point of view, it doesn’t make a difference. Advertisers are interested in both markets.” In eight years, Jacoby said the event has garnered a staggering 1.5 billion media impressions, and close to $8.5 million in fund-raising for participating charities, who partner with the magazine’s advertisers as sponsors for events.
Among the four major charity events at the house (which were ticketed events available to the public) were benefits for Oxfam—sponsored by Heineken, Infiniti, and Montblanc—and one for the International Medical Corps, with sponsors Hugo Boss and Lufthansa. In all, about 5,000 people will pass through the house this season. In addition to those guests, the magazine set up a Facebook page associated with the project, new for this year.
“Our advertisers love [the Facebook tie-in] because they have their own content, which creates a dialogue,” said Jacoby. “[Overall,] I have to say that the feedback has been outstanding. From all of the participating advertisers, starting with Lufthansa, that had the worldwide C.E.O. there, to the sponsors at the City of Hope event who sent me emails the night of the event. It’s been gratifying. We execute at a very high level. We pay a lot of attention to detail to make sure that the specific advertiser activations are on point.”
