“I think everybody needed this infusion of joy. Everybody needed to see something so hopeful,” said Laura Brounstein, vice president of content and storytelling for CLEAR.Photo: Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for CLEAR
Those feel-good reunions were the inspiration behind “CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families,” which brought more than 100 family members and friends back together again. “We want this to feel like the most magical experience of their lives,” explained Sari Kohen, director of business leadership for Superfly, the agency tasked with producing the CLEAR Connects series, including this most recent event.
Back in January, Superfly and CLEAR teamed up to bring this vision to life—even though many things were still, well, unclear. “We didn’t know what the world was going to look like in a couple of months. It changes so often. The guidelines change so often. So we were taking a lot of risk, making a lot of assumptions and staying in really close communication with all the stakeholders and city officials,” Kohen said about the planning process.
“If you paid attention to the numbers and you believed in the science and you believed in the administration's ability to roll out the vaccine then this was going to be a reality and it was,” added Laura Brounstein, vice president of content and storytelling for CLEAR. On May 6, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the long-awaited reunions happened.
CLEAR, along with partners United Airlines and Marriott Bonvoy, flew 34 vaccinated seniors from South Florida, via a private charter, from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport (which is United's primary hub for the region). As an extra precaution, the seniors received COVID-19 tests that were administered by mobile at-home testing crews 24 hours before departure, and the tri-state area friends and families completed at-home COVID-19 tests before the in-person reunion.
Plus, all attendees used CLEAR’s Health Pass to link to their negative COVID-19 test results, which allowed them entry into the stadium. (Health Pass will soon be able to link to vaccination records as well.)
On the field, the families were each designated a “pod” with a picnic table and umbrella where they enjoyed lunch and watched a live Broadway musical performance by Mandy Gonzalez, Kerry Butler and Seth Rudetsky. The event was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.
“I think everybody needed this infusion of joy. Everybody needed to see something so hopeful,” Brounstein said.
As part of the CLEAR Connects campaign, the brand also recently partnered with Union Square Hospitality Group in April to honor over 50 New York frontline healthcare workers from 22 area hospitals with a dinner at Marta.
“We were a little worried about people feeling comfortable socializing with each other after so long of only engaging with each other via screen. And I think at both events we saw there was maybe a little reticence in the first five or 10 minutes and then people were off to the races,” Brounstein said.
She added that the brand is planning to “create more magical moments where we bring people together safely and easily in different meaningful ways throughout the year.”
Both Brounstein and Kohen stressed how an event like “A Day of Families” demonstrates that folks can gather safely again in person. “We’ve all spent the year doing lots of virtual events, and if we did get to come back, it was drive-thru, delivery, timed experiences. Don't touch. Don't hug. So I think there was so much power in that moment,” Kohen said about the reunions.
See more below from the “CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families" event.
