A second mass mailing from Coney Island developer Thor Equities is in the mail. The DIY produced-in-the-1970s-by-pasting-things-up looking mailers (front page, above) were sent out by the entity that calls itself The Future of Coney Island, which also has a website, thefutureofconeyisland.com. The website is registered to The Marino Organization, which is Thor Equities’ PR firm. The mailer was posted at magicalthemeparks.com and noted at coneyisland.com. It is on blue paper and dated February, 2006 (yes, it says, 2006) like a newsletter. (Click here to see the first one.) It plays up rides that would be built, but makes no mention of luxury highrises that are proving contentious. Once again, there is a response card that allows one to choose whether the community needs jobs, “more amenities,” “more amusements” or a longer season. (Kinetic Carnival has also posted the mailer. For their take on it click here.)
What fascinates us about this isn’t so much the failure to mention 40-story condo towers as the attempt to make the “newsletter” look like it is coming from a low-budget, grassroots organization marketing an community food coop in 1983. Do they teach retro community development marketing in PR school? And, is the “February 2006” date on the document another clever tactic to make it look homemade or is it an actual, you know, mistake?
Related Posts:
Mail From Mr. Sitt: Deliberately Grassroots Look?
Thor’s Coney Island Website Launches
2 responses so far ↓
1 Jeanne // Feb 19, 2007 at 3:29 pm
All the PR stuff they’re putting out (newsletters, website, etc.) seems really sneaky and underhanded…. I’ve tried to give Thor Equities the benefit of the doubt, but I just don’t trust ’em further than I could throw ’em.
2 Anonymous // Feb 28, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I agree there going to screw up coney island and I hope the city can take the land back in time because everything is knocked down, because it will take the city a long time to build it back up , I have a feeling coney island wont be as dazzled as thor says anytime soon as they are causing big problems.