Hasta La Creative!

What does South Carolina have against Chicago? The state’s Department of Recreation Parks and Tourism next week launches a four-week “guerrilla marketing blitz” called Time to Thaw, a campaign covering downtown Chicago streets and parking garages. This already sounds ominous, the kind of marketing mischief that you’d call in sick just to avoid. And you’d be right. The effort includes: 360-degree elevator wraps “that literally put passengers inside South Carolina locations”; phone kiosks in which the handsets have been refitted with conch shells; and a wall of hand dryers in the Grant Park North lobby that read, “Press button for warm South Carolina breezes.” There’s actually more, but why go on? It’s already too awful for words. When the wind chill hits 20 below and the trains won’t run because the tracks are caked with ice, more than a few Chicagoans might be tempted to make use of those beach-motif phones to call down south and share their thoughts about the campaign. (Contact the Bounce Agency at (864) 271-8340. They’re proud of their work and can’t wait to chat with their friendly neighbors from the frosty north.)

—Posted by David Gianatasio