the upgrade lounge by marshalls

Last year, 7.7 million people flew over Memorial Day Weekend. A lovely time for 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, comfortable, completely free space for everyone. Not just frequent flyers or people with three credit cards and a loyalty spreadsheet. Everyone.

It was Marshalls’ Access to Better mission brought to a place that usually feels anything but.

For everyone not passing through JFK, Amanda Batula curated summer finds at The Upgrade Shop on Marshalls.com. Meanwhile, Vivian Tu hit the streets to talk about travel compromises, while social and editorial creators brought the lounge to their followers in real time.

Marshalls upgraded the most chaotic weekend of the year. Even TSA was impressed. (I know because Agent Tatiana and I got very close during a security pat-down.)

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/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