You & Me Bench
A social experiment celebrating relationships.
date. 2016
client. Safian & Rudolph
the story.
In the spring of 2016 we had a new client, a jeweler, who made one final comment at the end of a kickoff meeting. 'We're in the business of celebrating relationships.' After doing some market research, there were several key insights that led to the development of the 'You & Me Bench'.
1. There weren't enough places to sit in the city. In fact, there were 0 places to rest on Jewelers Row.
2. The average time spent consulting with a jeweler was just under an hour.
3. For a city that boasts its public arts, there was a real lack of functional art.
So, we decided to move forward with this idea, to create a bench that was part art, part social experiment.
ART. We designed and had the bench fabricated, featuring the company's ampersand (&) symbol from their logo placed directly in the middle of the bench. That ampersand was the element of branding on the bench to start, and was ambiguous enough that no suspected anything.
Social Experiment. Inspired by the social media account 'Humans of New York', which shares the stories of individuals who live in NYC, we created this bench to be an opportunity for people to share 'their' story, whether they were friends, in a relationship, part of a group, or simply two strangers sharing a bench. 2016 was an election year. There was a lot negativity and divisiveness flooding the news. So, we saw this as a great opportunity to bring folks together and celebrate something positive.
The spring, summer, and fall seasons in Philadelphia are filled with outdoor events. Knowing this, we made an effort to have the bench at every event possible, which sometimes meant sneaking it into events at first. And sometimes getting kicked out of those events. However, most places welcomed it. People were intrigued by it. We captured pictures and stories, then shared those on social along with the #YOUANDMEBENCH hashtag. After only a few outings, we had a local TV station that wanted to feature the story on their programming. After that, every media outlet in the city wanted to cover it. People from other cities were reaching out to know where it would be? At which event? Can we bring it to their city? Can we take our engagement photos on it?
My favorite part of this project, beside the incredible client who trusted me, was that originally I had reached out to the city of Philadelphia's public art commission to inquire about implementing the bench as a permanent figure somewhere in the city. The person on the phone laughed at me. Exactly six months later, after a weekend event that featured the bench at City Hall, I was put back in touch with that person who was directed to approve the bench as permanent art installation in the city of Philadelphia. The icing on the cake? I was able to choose where I'd like to have it. Well, what better place for a bench that celebrates relationships than Jewelers Row - where people go to celebrate their relationships? And not just anywhere on Jewelers Row. I submitted to have it exist right in front of Safian & Rudolph, the client's store.
