RazzleDazzle Barbershop celebrated the grand opening of its second location with a 1940s party on Thursday night in the courtyard of Mary Brickell Village shopping center, where the store is located. Owner Elena Linares relied on media outreach and guerrilla marketing to draw more than 1,000 people to the event.
"For me to show off the uniqueness of RazzleDazzle Barbershop, I felt that I needed to bring it out into the streets during rush hour," said Linares. "Driving the big ad truck in front of the busy clubs and bars during happy hours made a big impact."
One week before the event, an advertising truck from Go Big Adz L.L.C. drove through downtown Miami and Brickell hauling a large glass enclosure housing three corseted models, who demonstrated the store's shave, shoe-shine, and neck massage services on a man in a barbershop chair. The costumed models headed to the street days later to distribute flyers for the opening. Linares also worked with Nat-PR Inc. to secure 39 sponsors and to promote the event to the media.
Dancers, singers, and other entertainers dressed in 1940s attire entertained throughout the event on the stage and raised pedestals in the courtyard and the barbershop. Restaurants within the shopping plaza provided food stations for the night accompanied by specialty cocktails from Ketel One and Zacapa Rum.
The promotional party also served as a fund-raiser for domestic violence advocacy group Safespace Foundation, raising $6,675 through a raffle and sales of 2011 pinup-style calendars.
