The bodega was named Rose & Reuben’s to pay tribute to the brand’s founders, Rose and Reuben Mattus. “We like to say they were the original creators and ice cream dreamers," Häagen-Dazs's Rachel Jaiven said. "So there were a lot of really fun and playful ways that we honored them."Photo: Krista Schlueter
NEW YORK—Häagen-Dazs’s new “City Sweets” collection is inspired by iconic street-food desserts—think pretzels from street carts, churros, and black and white cookies. (Hungry yet?) So it was only appropriate that the brand celebrated the new flavors with a city-inspired activation: a colorful space that evoked a classic New York City bodega.
Popping up in Brooklyn from April 20-21, the immersive experience transformed a vacant convenience store into Rose & Rueben’s, a nod to the brand’s founders, Polish immigrants Reuben and Rose Mattus.
“That historical connection, along with the street cart- and city-inspired flavors of the new collection, lent itself to bringing the launch back to where the brand began,” explained Suzanne Sherwood, creative director at Cartwright, the creative agency behind the activation. “The bodega is such an icon of New York, we felt like it was the perfect place to showcase our new City Sweets collection—and nod to the founders at the same time.”
To further tie into the new collection, the shop featured colorful artwork from Brooklyn-based artist Jade Purple Brown, who also designed the City Sweets packaging, and each aisle of the shop highlighted a different flavor. “So we had a Dulce de Leche Churro aisle, we had a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel aisle, and then the last aisle was a Black & White Cookie aisle,” noted Rachel Jaiven, Häagen-Dazs's marketing director. “And there were some really cool visuals and things to bring to light the flavor, but also some fun things to highlight the Häagen-Dazs brand.”
The entire space—including the products on the shelves and the posters on the walls—"were customized and filled with Easter eggs about the brand, from flavor cues to fake business licenses attributed to the founders,” Sherwood added.
In the back of the shop, though, was the real treat. What looked like a normal freezer door opened to a speakeasy-like space where guests could relax, listen to music, and of course, taste the new flavors.
Cartwright worked with Unit9 to produce the activation, while The Door handled PR and Spark handled paid advertising. "And keeping in line with our brand mission of elevating up-and-coming tastemakers, we had local DJs Angel and Dren perform and photographer Krista Schlueter and videographer Andre Jones capture the event," Sherwood said.
Scroll down for a closer look inside Rose & Rueben’s, and get the scoop on how the teams pulled it off.
"Finding a space large enough for the build that felt authentic to the bodega execution was a challenge," Sherwood said. "Our scout lasted several rounds to find an authentic space large enough for the bodega, and that was also in a neighborhood that tied back to Häagen-Dazs and Rose and Reuben’s history."
