the upgrade lounge by marshalls
Last year, 7.7 million people flew over Memorial Day Weekend. A lovely time to take a vacation. A terrible time to enter an airport.
So Marshalls did the unthinkable: we made the airport... nice.
We launched The Upgrade Lounge at JFK Terminal 4. A luxe, actually comfortable, totally free space open to everyone. Not the frequent flyer elite. Not the people with three credit cards and a loyalty spreadsheet. Everyone.
All to bring Marshalls’ Access to Better mission into a place that usually feels anything but.
And for those not traveling through JFK? We teamed up with Amanda Batula to curate her favorite summer finds at The Upgrade Shop on Marshalls.com. Because summer style? Always essential.
We collaborated with brand partner Vivian Tu to create social content around the travel compromises we all make, and we engaged 8 social influencers and social editorial creators to capture content at our lounge, showcasing the activation live to their followers.
Marshalls upgraded the most chaotic weekend of the year. Even TSA was impressed. (I know because I had a long chat with Agent Tatiana while getting a pat-down in security.)
the results:
235.4M earned impressions
2.5M social impressions
15k+ lounge visitors over the holiday weekend
brought to life by a first-class crew:
gcd/last-minute dp: Dan Licht
cds: Brandon Kramer, Alex Ohanessian
sr cw/acd/last-minute dp: Laura Walsh
design: Graham Robson, Emma Dowling
production: Scott Siegel, Liz Bradley, Autumn Brawer, Lisa Parisi
production partners: Cowboy Bear Ninja, Deyan Design
agency: Edelman
quotes from travelers:
The lounge showed what travel should be:
Comfortable seating
Charging stations
The latest summer fashion
A Glow & Go beauty bar
Free, premium amenity kits
And must-have travel snacks. Obviously.
