Ralph Lauren Turns Seven Cities Into Adirondack Holiday Retreats
Ralph Lauren, the American fashion label, is turning stores and shop windows in seven cities into American woodland retreats this holiday season. The campaign is set in the Adirondack mountains in the northeastern United States, and the installations will appear in London, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles, according to WWD.
The programme is called The Ralph Lauren Holiday Experience. Last year it visited four cities: Seoul, London, Tokyo and Los Angeles. This year it grows to seven, with Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore added to the list. Each installation is meant to celebrate what the company describes as the beauty and authenticity of the natural world.
Each site is built around a Lake House-style retreat, the kind of rustic cabin the brand associates with the Adirondacks. Visitors will find ice skating rinks, Christmas trees, places for family portraits, seasonal workshops and shopping areas selling holiday gifts. Ralph's Coffee pop-ups and food and drink offerings will be on site as well.
The dates vary by city. The London installation at Sloane Square runs from 12 November to 20 December. Singapore's at Marina Bay Sands runs from 17 November to 26 December, and Sydney's at First Fleet Park runs from 21 to 29 November. Tokyo's at Roppongi Midtown opens on 4 December and runs to 31 December. In Los Angeles, the West Hollywood site runs from 3 to 6 December. Seoul's installation at Seongsu Daelim runs from 10 to 13 December, and Hong Kong's at Ocean Terminal Deck in Tsim Sha Tsui runs from 5 to 20 December.
Shop windows carry the theme further. In New York City, Ralph Lauren will fill the windows of the Bloomingdale's flagship on 59th Street, the American department store chain's main store in the city. Inside that store, a holiday shop will offer gifts, personalised items and special events. In London, the department store Selfridges will feature Ralph Lauren in a window that reimagines New York City in miniature, with a Polo Bar, Ralph's Coffee, an ice rink and New York taxis. Ralph's Coffee will also have its own space on Duke Street in London.
In Germany, the department store chain Breuninger will give Ralph Lauren its windows in Munich and Stuttgart.
The campaign also has a film strand. The second instalment of The Polo Bear Chronicles, a series of animated short films, will debut this holiday season. A separate two-minute Polo Bear film follows the bear on an adventure in the Adirondacks, with the message of family, tradition and the season.
Charity forms part of the plan too. Ralph Lauren will give a percentage of proceeds from selected activities during the installations. It will also offer donations to local charities supported through its Pink Pony initiative, a programme the company runs to back good causes.
For a reader in any city, the pattern is simple. The same woodland theme is being built into a rink, a coffee bar and a shop window, in cities thousands of kilometres apart. Each site has its own run of dates, so the campaign moves from Sydney in late November to Tokyo at the end of December.
