St Ives Mixing Bar, New York

Arriving for the summer of 2017, the St Ives Mixing Bar gave SoHo a personalised experience with this Unilever-owned beauty brand.

Informed by the success of Unilever’s Magnum Pleasure store pop up, the St Ives Mixing Bar deconstructed and personalised product with theatrical, Instagrammable results. The aim was to revitalise the 62-year-old brand and elevate it above drugstore staple.

The experiential appeal of their Mixing Bar pop up has helped St. Ives attract a new and younger audience.

Customers created their own face scrubs, moisturisers and body lotions in a space outfitted with design cues that melded smoothie store with boutique retailer. Over 100 product ingredient combinations were available, for myriad unique combinations. The inclusion of 21 never-before-used ingredients created all-new possibilities.

To draw interest from the street, an oversized bottle of St Ives’ bestselling apricot scrub hung in the window. Inside, mixologists created products at five different stations, while a living wall and fruity drinks station emphasised the brand’s use of natural ingredients.

Customers could also browse a selection of off-the-shelf products and learn more about the 100% natural ingredients used in St Ives products by way of an educational wall. A giant mirrored infinity room filled with giant apricots was available for selfies, encouraging social sharing.

The pop up was used to gather some 25,000 email addresses and intel on popular ingredient blends and skincare concerns. A Vengo payment booth at the back of the store dispensed free samples in exchange for additional data. This information will be used to guide further product development.

EchoChamber was involved in the project at the ideation stage, running a trend workshop and retail safari with the marketing team and creative agencies.