The Standard (and their upside-down logo that graphic designers love) is known for its unconventional ads. Their last campaign featured upside-down visuals to match the logo.
First, read what the creative minds behind the campaign have to say.
First, owner André Balazs:
“The purpose of this advertising,” which is aimed at “selective audiences,” is to “bring a degree of sophistication. We believe a good hotel is far more than a set of rooms. What makes a hotel unique is its personality, its social life, its cultural life.” He added, “we wanted to do something less obvious."
Next, Claire Darrow Mosier, creative director at André Balazs Properties, described the campaign as "surrendering our ads to art, so to speak." She also said, "we don’t want to be ‘fashion-y.’ ”
The photos, from 2003, are by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm. His gallery, Lehmann Maupin, tries to explain the images:
"Wurm tackles our heightened fearfulness following the events of 9/11. Threats on national and international security have made us more sensitive to our personal space and freedoms. An invasion of personal and private space is documented in this work. Wurm seems to be making fun of how much we have accepted intrusion into our private lives. Despite the lightheartedness of this series, these works of art have a serious intent and are a social and political critique of our changing world."
André? The ads are pretty damn "obvious" — shock for shock's sake.
Claire? Sorry, but these ads are, in fact, very fashion-y.
And, after reading Wurm's gallery's explanation of the images, well the pretentiousness inside this post is so thick, you can cut it with one of The Standard's cheese knives.
Your hotels are buildings cut up into small boxes. That's it.
But, I guess if you're one of the über-cool people who can afford to stay regularly at one of The Standard's five U.S. locations, go right ahead and piss on their rugs, drool in your girlfriend's soup, or stick your head down a woman's shirt and motorboat her.