RSS FeedIs That A Sofa On 7th Street?
It is. But this isn’t a yard sale nor an eviction. No T-shirt uniformed street teams promoting Blackberrys to government workers. No ad-hoc charity lovers selling Krispy Kreme donut boxes for $5 in front of the Metro escalators. No sidewalk floormat signs that appeared until DCRA put the kibosh on them. Enter Zipcar, the popular car sharing service that has its DC office at 717 D St, NW, and what we think is the most unorthodox attention getter we’ve seen downtown. Unorthodox enough that we call it news.
A few weeks ago, camera ready PQ Living reader Kathy caught two Zipcar “scenes” – one on F Street, NW, and another on 7th Street, NW – and sent them in to us. Camp F Street (photo below) depicts two folks enjoying themselves at a makeshift campsite while Living Room 7th Street is simply a vacant sofa parked on the sidewalk (photo above). We’ll let readers figure out the hook.
We talked to Anthony Marinos, a DC region marketing manager for Zipcar, who told us that this short campaign was one Zipcar thought would be a good fit for DC and for reaching out to people to promote awareness of the service. How did pedestrians walking by react? He said, “It put a smile on people’s faces.”
The pedestrian count on 7th Street, NW, is as high as it gets in Washington DC with workers, residents and tourists making the trek to offices, condos and attractions at all times of the day and also making our neighborhood’s Main Street a real marketing plum. Whether you’re a fan of this kind of public space advertising or not, it does garner attention. It made us turn our heads.
A hat tip goes out to Kathy for allowing us to use her photos. Readers can send downtown DC news tips and photos to: pqliving [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments
I think it is an amazing idea! I am so proud of you guys! So much better than handing out info to peeps coming off the metro!
I’m not a copywriter, but I wish the signs emphasized how Zipcar could help you have/get to these things instead of disrupting/obstructing by pointing out a need people are probably already well aware of (lack of a whip).
But I still think it’s cool/smart.
They had a sofa set up outside their office and on the corner of 8th & D a few weeks back. They kept moving the sofa cause they couldn’t figure out the best placement. I guess that was their pilot?
DC Public Space Permit?
Special Events Clearance?
DC DHS Block Party Permit?
Public Demonstration Permit?
ANC approval?
US Fine Arts Commission approval?
Equity waiver for actors?
Yeah, they had a dresser on the corner of 12th & G beside the metro entrance a few weeks back. It cracked me up.
So a sofa in the middle of a busy sidewalk is brilliant marketing, but one of those CityVista and DC United sidewalk stickers were an eyesore and a cause for outrage?
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About a week ago, I saw a zipcar scene on the corner of 7th & F. It was a “beach” scene, complete with sand and people hanging out, sunning, reading magazines (I want *this* job!)
I actually thought it was clever, though I think tourists were noticing it more than the locals who would actually need a zipcar to get to the beach 😉