• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 12, 2016

Upscale appliance retailer Pirch is unveiling a new experiential showroom in New York this month and will promote it with an out-of-home ad campaign from its agency Barker that features celebrity tastemakers such as salty style maven Iris Apfel and foodie/writer/TV host Padma Lakshimi.

Coinciding with the showroom launch and campaign is a redesigned website that the company enlisted DigitasLBi to develop.

The company has a number of showrooms—the new Soho New York facility is the latest—where visitors can test kitchen, bathroom and outdoor products before they make a purchase.

The campaign is designed to distinguish Pirch from an “average” store, by drawing comparisons to how the personalities in the campaign are more than just average members of their fields.  

The overall campaign theme reads, “It’s just a store, like, I am just a…” and customized with Pirch appliances per persona. For example one ad has Apfel sitting in a bubble bath with copy that reads, “It’s just a store like I’m just an old lady.”

Interior designer Nate Berkus, high-end realtor Luis Ortiz and chef Geoffrey Zakarian also appear in ads for the OOH campaign, which will appear in New York metro subway stations, Jitney busses, billboards, print and other locations.