April 17, 2014 By Christian Murray
“Experience New York City’s Best Kept Secret.”
That is the slogan touting Long Island City that is going to be plastered on subway trains and in stations for much of this year, while No. 7 train weekend service is down. It will be part of the public service announcement notifying No. 7 train riders that they will be required to use shuttle service on weekends.
The MTA is about to put the public service announcements up at every No. 7 train station and on each No. 7 train , according to Marisa Baldeo, a MTA spokeswoman. It will also be putting the posters up at a number of other stations and on a variety of different train lines, although Baldeo did not know which ones.
The posters–which also refer to Long Island City as “on the grid, under the radar”– are currently at the printer and have not gone up yet. The posters include pictures of MoMA PS1, The Chocolate Factory, The Noguchi Museum, Alobar and LIC Living.
However, the campaign has kicked off online, with marketing material found on the MTA website as well as on screens at stations.
The campaign is the result of a number of local business owners and leaders calling on the MTA to help aid the commercial district. while service is down. The business owners claimed that they would suffer on weekends, since many of their customers could not be able to get to their stores/restaurants. The MTA agreed to help.
However, the MTA has not provided the community with a shuttle bus—that goes to Grand Central– that has been requested for years.
However, the agency did change its work schedule on the weekend of May 17-18, so people can get to LIC Springs!, the LIC Arts Open and the LICFlea & Food with greater ease.
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12 Comments
This is the worst ad I’ve ever seen. They should have had a contest to lure in the many advertising professionals in the hood. Sad that this is what we ended up with!
best kept secret ???? really … they should have added the whitewashed 5 Pointz, what an attraction .. since it will as predicted still be standing by the summer … no demolition permit in sight … smh … and yes the add is horrible , why is secret theater not mentionned way more exciting than chocolate factory , what about LIc market ? awesome food , why just Alobar , what about dutchkills the Bar known worlwide which draws people from everywhere , Maducatis rustica a true headquater for LIC ?… I guess in that sense thereis a reason why some of the business mentionned are a secret, they should stay that way , nothing to brag about ..
Awful, awful ad! Agree with everyone above, just so stupid and wasteful.
Misinformed Transit Ass—–.
Obviously this ugly ad is a gigantic DISS. It’s so bad!
Whose nephew got 10k for this?
LIC – come see our ugly glass and steel hi-rise condos. New ones going up every day!
Time’s Up, and only Hunters Point businesses (and residents and workers) are suffering the effects of the No. 7 closure, so why promote other areas?
MTA, do what you’re paid to do — run the goddamn subways and buses.
Echo the above sentiments.
And it’s silly to lump together PS1, Noguchi, and Alobar. They’re essentially in 3 different areas: Hunter’s Point, Ct Square, and Dutch Kills/Astoria.
Under the radar! Are you kidding me. It was not under the radar when I lived there 18 years ago. A poor ad. Who writes and designs this crap and even more, who gives it the okay. Back to the drawing board. Waste of time and money.
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Agree. What a load.
LIC is a “secret”?
If you are so brain dead to have not heard of this neighborhood, especially within the last 20 years, then an ugly poster from the MTA is definitely not going to do much to enlighten you.
What a waste of time and money, which could have been dedicated to a shuttle.
@Amadeo
That was exactly what the local businesses said to the representatives of the MTA. But they were not being flexible on design.
Jesus. It looks awful. I like the sentiment behind the ad, and the insight is true. But the creative is lacking. I work in advertising, though. So, I’m going to be more critical than the average person…