Historic building being used to promote Snickers, Tribeca Film Festival

You've likely seen the Bronze Plaque on the building at 13th Street and University Place.



As Forgotten New York points out, this marks the spot of the headquarters of the old 9th Regiment where Lincoln once called for volunteers for the Civil War. The plaque was unveiled on May 30, 1908. "Less than a score of veterans stood in the rain as Maj. Dabney W. Diggs, who got his rank for real service, and Col. William F. Morris, the present commander of the regiment, addressed them, but there were 800 then in olive drab standing at attention."

The plaque bears this inscription:

"If any one attempts to haul down the American Flag shoot him on the spot."

The retail space on the ground floor has been vacant since the Futon Warehouse closed in the summer of 2007. Of late, the space has been home to a treasure trove of Snickers ad...those chewpid Snacklish ones...





This is like the Louvre of Snickers ads...



The space is still for lease for retail on the street level...



The 11-story building is home to the Amalgamated Lithographers of America, among other tenants.




However, the Snickers ads have been removed. And the street-level space is being used again as the press office for the Tribeca Film Festival.

Chewpid

As you know, in this recession, people are buying and, we assume, eating more candy. In turn, companies are spending big money on marketing such delights.

Stuart Elliott wrote about this in the Times on March 3:

It was only a year or so ago that the concept of affordable luxury meant a Coach bag, Tiffany bauble or Starbucks latte. Since then, the recession has defined splurging downward to the price level of a can of soda, pack of gum or candy bar.

That is why many marketers of those prosaic products are still spending like it’s 2007 when it comes to advertising. For instance, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola recently came out with new campaigns, as did several gum brands, among them Ice Breakers.

Another case in point is the confectionery behemoth Mars, which is introducing a major campaign for its best-selling candy brand, Snickers, that is centered on a make-believe language called Snacklish.

Snacklish is a humorous way of speaking that revises everyday words and phrases for a Snickers-centric world. To underscore their origin, they are printed in the typeface and colors of the Snickers brand logo.

The campaign is also purposely infused with a slapstick, yuk-yuk approach... That tack is meant to appeal to the target consumer for Snickers, defined ... as men ages 18 to 49 with “a bull’s-eye of 18 to 34.”

OK. I haven't eaten a Snickers since I was 14. But! I have been oddly curious/repelled by the Snickers snads around the neigh-bar-hood. (Sorry.)






Meanwhile, the Feast Village ad keeps eluding me...