“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” hasn’t been shouted by street vendors in decades, but the nostalgia associated with classic newsstands continues to live on. Brands are incorporating newstalgic outdoor stalls into modern pop-ups with fresh, colorful takes that evoke a sense of time and place, and that replicate the material buzz of a headline-making story—or in these cases, event.
Most recently, Peacock popped up two newsstands in New York City at Rockefeller Center and Flatiron Plaza to celebrate the premiere of “The Paper,” a spinoff of “The Office” that focuses on the revival of a historic Midwestern newspaper. The green, branded newsstands offered oversized Toledo Truth Teller newspapers, photo ops with a towering “Tower of Truth” newspaper installation, limited-edition tote bags, complimentary PopUp Bagels and surprise appearances from four cast members.
Also in NYC, SheaMoisture activated the Yes, And Newsstand at Astor Place Plaza in June centered around the beauty brand’s first-ever print magazine, a nod to the nostalgia of Black hair books. The newsstand not only displayed several Yes, And editions, but also a vivid assortment of combs, scrunchies and hair accessories. Around the side of the stall was a built-in hair salon station, where local stylists performed live hair demonstrations. Attendees also enjoyed “Shea” popsicles and branded goodies distributed in take-out plastic bags that replaced the iconic red “THANK YOU” text with “YES AND.”
Rather than going out, drinkware brand Stanley brought iconic New York City landmarks and staples inside of Spring Studios as the backdrop for the launch of its wearable Cross Bottle. Showing how the product could fit into different on-the-go lifestyles, the space was divided into vignettes dedicated to user personas, the first being a newsstand presenting Stanley-branded fashion magazines for the urban commuter to thumb through.
Speaking of commuting, Sony took fans, influencers and media underground to the abandoned Bowery subway station, which was transformed for an exclusive event to mark the brand’s partnership with Olivia Rodrigo. A purple, star-decorated newsstand, designed to match the singer’s custom LinkBuds, featured the new product, as well as tour merch, CDs, vinyls, stickers and snacks for attendees to pick up.
Setting up outside of Thinkery, a children’s museum in Austin, TX, was a natural fit for baby goods brand Tommee Tippee’s pop-up newsstand in May. Celebrating the launch of its Stayput Pacifier and Stayput Pocket, the pastel installation included The Daily Feed newspapers with info on the new items, a claw machine, a mirrored photo op and tiny-mic interviews. Ink well spent.
Featured photo credit: Peacock
