My Night at the AirBnBodega

Jill Yoe Graves, design director and former GDUSA Person to Watch, recently spent the night at Jesse’s Deli. Together with her daughter, Jill participated in a staged “bed-in” to protest the rising rents and gentrification of the Boerum Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY.

Jesse Itayim, a proud delipreneur is offering a “cozy semi-private 7×4 bedroom” in his Atlantic Avenue deli in an effort to save his 25 year old business. After his landlord raised his rent by 2.5 x, local patrons and concerned citizens, Doug Cameron and Tommy Noonan of DCX Growth Accelerator stepped in and devised a brilliant marketing campaign to help out their local deli.

The team (full creative credits below) developed a series of comic posters selling deli items at 2.5 x the regular price to bring attention to the 2.5 x rent increase pushing this local establishment out of the neighborhood. (Jesse is pictured below in the “Breakfast Coffee Maker” poster.)

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The satirical protest continued in partnership with Air B &B where a room at the deli is being offered in a fictional rental listing for $329 a night, the average price it will take per day to afford the $10,000 a month rent (2.5 x the current rent). 

 

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Here is Jill’s account of her night at the AirBnBodega:

“The old air conditioner hums a rhythmic “tick, tick, tick” every few beats as sweet accompaniment to the pre-war air that is starting to blend with the smells of strong coffee and the bacon popping on the large griddle. My daughter starts to rustle in the bed next to me as the morning sun peers through the window along with the eyes of passersby. I feel refreshed, maybe a little achy from the air mattress, but I am thankful we have a Doritos and Lays chip stand full of snacks, light bulbs, Slim Jims and sheer panty hose to give us a little privacy as we get ready to start the day. “What more does a girl need!” I think as I reach and carefully open the somewhat unhinged refrigerator door just a few steps from our air mattress to grab a refreshing Tropicana OJ. I call on my personal chef and deli meat slicer to whip up a couple of his famous bacon, egg and cheese bialys and consider buying a lotto ticket. I have to say, there is really nothing quite so spectacular as waking up in your local corner deli!”

The campaign was created as a spoof to promote the “Bed-In Selfie” and hopes to gain support for the Bill de Bodega (#BillDeBodega), aka Small Business Jobs Survival Act. Please sign the TAKEBACKNYC and tell @BillDeBlasio to support it, too. Anyone can participate, so if you’d like to show your support for small business in NYC you can go to the airbnbodega page for more details and information about staging your own “bed-in” at the bodega. 

Jill Yoe Graves is a design director and you can see more of her insightful ideas on her blog Design is for Sharing.

 

AirBnBodega Creative Credits:

Chief Creative Officer: Doug Cameron
ECD: Tommy Noonan
Copywriters: Doug Cameron and Tommy Noonan
Art Director: Tommy Noonan
Digital Strategist: Paul Aaron
Technologist: Ronan Kenny
Account Director: Patrick McCormick
Producer: Darcy Donelan
Photography: Elicia Castle
Publicist/Content Writer: Erin Levi
Publicist: Rachel Van Dolsen