Blogocentric Formulations

Positive Thing #5

POSITIVE THING #5

My wife and I are currently rewatching the entire seven-season run of Gilmore Girls in anticipation of the upcoming revival on Netflix. While that alone would be a positive thing (such a great show!), I wanted to instead focus on a really cool marketing stunt that was done earlier this month to get people excited about the show again.

For anyone who hasn't seen the show, it's about a single mother (Lorelai) and her teenage daughter (Rory) living in a small Connecticut town called Stars Hollow. It's the kind of small town where everyone congregates around the town square and local people frequent local businesses. The show's creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, based the show's town on Washington, Connecticut, which she was inspired by during a weekend stay. One of the most popular town locations in the show is Luke's Diner, a small coffee shop and restaurant near the town center. Luke Danes, the proprietor, is a will-they-won't-they love interest for Lorelai throughout the series.

On Wednesday, October 5th, over 200 businesses nationwide (mostly independent coffee shops) converted their decor and menus to look like Luke's Diner. For one day only, fans of the show could go to a coffee shop and feel like they were stepping into Luke's Diner in Stars Hollow! And, for those who went to venues in and around Los Angeles, some of the cast even spontaneously dropped in!

A friend of mine actually had Scott Patterson (the actor who plays Luke) show up while she was waiting in line.

In a world where marketing and advertising is so often has negative connotations, it's nice to see someone come up with a unique, fun idea that can get people excited about the product in question without explicitly hawking it.

Further reading: Luke's Diner Is Coming to a Town Near You