Extra, Extra! See How 8 Brands Turned Newsstands Into Clever Experiential Moments

For Refinery29’s 29Rooms in 2018, the company teamed up with the New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment to create “The Values Stand.” Inspired by classic newsstands in New York, the installation featured custom-designed newspapers, potato chip and candy packets to raise awareness on issues that face our world today; there was even an “ATM” where our attendees could register to vote.” See more: See What You Missed at Refinery29’s 29Rooms

As a way to introduce the Deciem Skincare brand to Los Angeles, the company worked with Gladiator Productions on a fun newsstand-inspired pop-up that traveled to three locations around the city last month. The brand’s goal was to celebrate its focus on positivity, along with its ingredients and scientific approach to skincare—and the “good news” concept was born. As Deciem’s stores have not yet arrived in Los Angeles, the goal was to take the brand’s numerous product lines—which include NIOD, Hylamide and The Ordinary—and make it easy for consumers to understand.

The Gladiator Productions team drew inspiration from the categorization at a traditional newsstand—where magazines are separated by industry, like fashion, auto, news, etc.—as a way to sort the products in a unique, memorable and easy-to-digest way.

For an added fun touch, newspaper vending boxes were set up beside the stand itself, adorned with additional brand information and QR codes.

To draw more attention in popular L.A. locations like the Farmer's Market, the Deciem newsstand featured eye-catching branding on all sides.

In 2019, Espolòn Tequila launched Death, a magazine that paid homage to the Day of the Dead with illustrated poems. As part of the launch, the spirits brand hosted a pop-up newsstand in New York featuring copies of Death along with merchandise. Some attendees were also able to access a hidden space with celebrity tarot reader Valeria the Mexican Witch, founding priestess of the Feminist Church of La Santa Muerte. In honor of the holiday, Espolòn Tequila also donated $25,000 to PAOS GDL, a nonprofit focused on the dissemination and promotion of art from Guadalajara, Mexico.

Ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, Columbia Journalism Review staged a "Fake News Stand" on a busy New York street to educate passersby on ways to spot misinformation. The pop-up was produced by the magazine in partnership with creative agency T.B.W.A./Chiat/Day New York.

The stand was stocked with magazines and newspapers that looked real—one titled The Hour resembled Time magazine, for instance—but featured headlines of false stories that went viral—including ones about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, a two-headed shark and a toddler fight club.

Brand ambassadors encouraged passersby to take a closer look at the publications on the newsstand, and were then handed a Columbia Journalism Review readers' guide with tips on how to spot misinformation and stats about the spreading of misinformation in the media. See more: Why This Newsstand Displayed Fake News Headlines

For its Pride event in 2019, H&M worked with MKG on a colorful space inspired by a New York City bodega tying into the retail brand’s "Stay True Stay You" campaign. A faux newsstand came complete with H&M branded candy, Pop Socks, “Glammy Bears,” “Stay True Stay You” chocolate bars and custom magazines.

Also tying into the bodega theme was an installation inspired by a flower shop, with buckets of flowers in colors of the rainbow.

Overheard, an Instagram franchise that shares snippets of conversations submitted by its followers, launched its first pop-up newsstand in New York in October 2019. The concept offered passersby physical newspapers with social media satire, such as a millennial weather report and “Subway Chronicles.” The activation also offered Overheard swag and products from Le Labo, Sakara Life and La Colombe.

The franchise partnered with creative agency Guest Star to produce the activation, which also featured a stunt where brand ambassadors read the papers while riding the subway.

Digital home publication Hunker put a fun spin on the traditional gift guide this holiday season by creating a curated shopping experience—essentially, a walk-thru gift guide. The Hunker Newsstand brings recommendations from Hunker’s holiday gift guide to life; guests can stroll through the space and scan items to shop them online.

The experiential retail pop-up also offers reading materials, specialty food and beverages and a variety of holiday surprises. It’s located around the corner from Hunker’s brick-and-mortar space, Hunker House, in Venice Beach, Calif., which the digital media brand uses as a content studio and intimate event venue.

To promote its movie Killing Kennedy, National Geographic Channel brought the headlines of Nov. 23, 1963, to Manhattan by way of a themed newsstand, which popped up in the city in 2013. Posters for the film were displayed on the sides and back of the structure, while a hashtag encouraged spectators to post photos and comments on social media. The newsstand also had two flat-screen TVs playing the film's trailer and interviews with the cast.

The newsstand was filled with authentic props, including iconic JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald magazine covers from 1957 to 1963, along with refreshments and candy. A vintage Zenith TV played NBC news footage from November 1963.

Near the stand, brand ambassadors dressed in '60s-era garb buzzed excitedly about the big news; they also passed out copies of the front page of The Washington Post and The New York Times from Nov. 23—which included black-and-white Killing Kennedy promotional ads—as well as JFK half-dollar coins in cases inscribed with information about the premiere. See more: National Geographic Brings News of Kennedy's Death to the Streets