The guest list at Tuesday's kickoff for the fragrance Beyoncé Heat was predictably tight. But in the promotional spirit of any good launch, passersby got a whiff of marketing when the venue and surrounding park were washed in red light and fog for six hours.
The fragrance is Beyoncé Knowles's first partnership with Coty Inc. The licensee's marketing team decided to create a public spectacle out of the intimate press conference and after-party—held at 15 Union Square, the site of the original Tiffany & Company—by making no secret about what was going on inside.
Fans gathered at 6 p.m. as nearly 140 international beauty journalists made their way inside for the presentation. And even after the editors were whisked to the party upstairs to join celebrities such as Usher, Sherri Shepherd, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé herself, pedestrians slowed to see the red lights illuminating the building and the surrounding trees in Union Square. Branding for the fragrance and talk of Beyoncé drew eyes to the penthouse windows, where the flashing lights from the exclusive party created some temporary advertising.
