Hershey Dreams – New York Update 2.

Ask any New Yorker if they would recognize the Times Square of now even just fifteen years ago, and the answer is invariably an expletive followed by "no way." This central Manhattan district underwent redevelopment in the mid-nineties, transforming it from a seedy porn theater row into a brandscape powerhouse. Gone are the strippers and dealers—in their place are Mickey and Minnie, Nike and Ruby. The standout thematic attraction of the new Times Square wasn't produced by Disney, however. it's the Hershey Store. Designed by the Brand Integration Group (BIG)—an experiential, intensive laboratory of the global advertising giant Ogilvy and Mather—this remarkable retail space at the corner of 48th and Broadway blends the two extremes of the thematic spectrum—pure simulation and pure brand—into a delightful medley.

A few years back, an article in Fast Company provided the following insights by Brian Collins, executive director of BIG. "if you go into the Hershey Store," explained Collins, "what you have is an opportunity to live the brand in all five senses. music, what it tastes like, what it smells like, what it looks like." BIG's mission was to create a physically branded space that relied on visual storytelling to convey the Hershey brand. "In the case of Hershey, they had incredible mythology around chocolate making that had been hijacked in many people's imaginations. If i asked you to name America's favorite chocolate bar, you'd say Hershey. If i asked you to name the best chocolate factory, you'd say Willy Wonka because of storytelling," reasoned Collins. [emphasis mine]

The space works because the exterior feels suitably organic; it looks as if the Hershey Store itself—rather than just the company—has an actual history spanning decades. Each physical item in the intensive advertising montage on its roofline looks as if it had been added incrementally. This layered history was exactly the effect that Brian Collins and the Brand Integration Group were going for.

“Let’s look at it as architecture, not as a billboard,” Collins told Fast Company. “What would have been here? They would have been here since 1914. First floor, 1910. Second floor, 1930. Third floor, 1940...We’re designing a story...Looking at Times Square and its history, we decided that it’s all about layering. It’s about seeing the past under the present...The fact that they emerged over time meant that we could use the iconography from Times Square,” he noted.

The interior, full of piping and industrial works, followed in a similar vein (though I found it much less impressive).

In this way, the Hershey Store incorporates thematic simulation; an imagined company history of the actual retail space. Although it doesn’t simulate any particular era or locale—like a cowboy apparel outlet might resemble a ghost town from the Old West, or a tropical poolside bar might appear to be an actual island retreat—the store simulates the idea itself of having been at that location for many years, and having endured many alterations and additions over time. It is something I haven’t yet seen—the historical theming of an otherwise non-themed branded space.