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What we have here is a case of parallel bars. To promote a new line of bar soap, Dove, the Unilever brand, recently hosted a two-day pop-up bar in New York City.
The new line, Dove Plant Milk Cleansing Bars, already sounds less like soap than beverages, with varieties including Coconut Milk & Sugar Lychee, Oat Milk & Berry Brulee, and Turmeric Milk & Lemon Drop.
Dove is calling the line its “first premium bar range,” and is pricing it accordingly with an MSRP of $5.99 for a 5-ounce bar, or $1.20 per ounce. A two-pack of the Dove original bar totaling 7.5 ounces, by contrast, is currently $3.99 at Target, or 53 cents per ounce.
The pop-up bar was technically more of a takeover of another bar, Dante, the Greenwich Village landmark which opened in 1915. For two days beginning February 22, a sign on the bar’s front window declared it The Dove Deluxe Bar.
In a lather: Dante mixologist Renato Tonelli concocted a special drink menu, incorporating some of the same ingredients as the soaps into the cocktails, including coconut, lychee, turmeric, and oats.
Perhaps as a counter to the soap varieties sounding like drinks, the cocktails sounded like bathroom items, including Shower Cap and Bathtime Bubbles. Some may have been difficult to order without revelers sounding like they were coming on to the bartender—if, for example, they sidled up to the bar and declared, “I’d like a Dreamy & Steamy.”
Andrew Adam Newman
A pizza KFC’s mind: Overlapping for a day with the Dove pop-up, and a little over a mile away, a KFC in the East Village hosted a promotional pop-up of its own.
Tied to the US introduction of Chizza, a portmanteau of—you’ll never guess—chicken and pizza, the KFC was turned into what the brand called a Chizzeria.
For two days beginning February 23, the pop-up served only free samples of Chizza. In promotional photos, KFC shows the item, which consists of extra-crispy filets topped with marinara, mozzarella, and pepperoni (so, chicken parmesan with pepperoni?), being eaten by hand.
Sounds messy, but that, as a certain Unilever brand would be happy to remind you, is what soap is for.