In the Window: Ricky's Helps the Masses

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Yesterday we were startled and amused to see a woman sleeping in the window of Ricky's on Third Avenue and 13th Street. She was helping promote Help Remedies, a line of cutely-packaged first-aid kits that includes Help I Can't Sleep (16 caplets of the sleep aid dyphenhydramine), Help I Cut Myself (six large bandages, six small bandages) and Help I Have a Blister (eight hydrocolloid strips.) People had been sleeping in the window for six hours at a time, a Ricky's employee told us. The previous two women had blissful naps, but the girl before them had been woken up halfway through. "She was so mad," said the employee.

Clever! we thought, and went home to write a post about it. Then we discovered how much more there was to this ad campaign then just sleep. In Soho, a man in high heels is walking on a treadmill for eight hours a day to promote the blister package. On 8th Street, the company keeps track of senators who've voted against public healthcare. On 14th Street, anyone willing to be photographed for Ricky's windows gets a free customized "Help I" t-shirt. On 39th Street, a dismembered mannequin demonstrates what Help I Cut Myself can't accomplish. On 72nd Street, windows offer Help I Have a Headache kits and marital advice to people having affairs. And on 27th Street, 39th Street, and Sixth Avenue, Ricky's makes art out of creatively arranged Help packages. It's a smart, well-orchestrated campaign, but our favorite is still the 13th Street sleepers.
· Help I Need Help [Official Site]