Ian Schrager had long evolved from his Studio 54 days to one of the country's most credible and creative boutique hoteliers. Nancy J. Friedman worked with Schrager as he built his hotel empire; in 2006, the hospitality guru was ready to reinvent himself once again by changing the face of urban living for people with sophistication and means and called on Nancy J. Friedman to spearhead the campaign.
Two buildings were to be simultaneously re-imagined: at 40 Bond Street, by Swiss-based architects Herzog & de Meuron, and at 50 Gramercy Park North, by London-based contemporary architect John Pawson.
The agency promoted 40 Bond selectively as a radical redesign of a traditional cast iron building unlike any other in New York. 50 Gramercy Park North, an adjunct to Schrager's redeveloped Gramercy Park Hotel, was positioned as a building that blurred "the distinction between residential and hotel living by taking the best from each to create a new genre..." Numerous key placements were secured both in print and online to generate buzz and sales coverage. Features in The New York Times (House & Home, Real Estate and the Sunday magazine), Avenue Magazine, Departures, New York Living, Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, and Architectural Digest Germany, all contributed to the brisk sales. Blog coverage from Curbed to the Real Deal rounded out the successful campaign.
