This holiday season the Barneys flagship store, on Madison Avenue in New York City, will feature memorable scenes from over three decades on Saturday Night Live. Barneys is hoping that partnering with SNL will give them the extra boost the company needs during the holiday season. The holiday season during a recession that is.
For the past two years Barneys' windows had themes tied to the socially conscious green movement. This year the tag line for the campaign is, "Have a Witty Holiday."
Barneys creative director Simon Doonan said that this year the focus is more on fun as opposed to flagrant luxury. Barneys is also lowering some of their price points to make their merchandise more affordable. While I think this is exciting, I am hesitant to be all for it. When I think of Barneys I think of good quality, and very nice things. "Fun" isn't exactly the word I would match with the store.
Windows will feature icons such as Tina Fey, Steve Martin, John Belushi, Amy Poehler and Molly Shannon. A photograph of the current SNL cast will also be featured. The windows will be displayed November 16th with SNL producer Lorne Michaels and cast members in attendance.
While I love Saturday Night Live as much as the next American, I was so surprised to hear about this. Barneys is pretty up there in the retail world and while SNL is popular I just always put them in different categories. Despite my surprise and slight hesitation, I am excited to see how these windows turn out!
I agree I don't see Barney's and SNL in the same category. But I think the recession has got retailers thinking about new strategies to boost sales. I hope the windows are good because it is definitely a change from the usual window displays
ReplyDelete