Is the projecting of an image onto a building legal or illegal in New York City? That's what some people are asking after a giant Starbucks logo was projected onto the exterior of Grand Central Station yesterday by marketing firm Nevermind. They had been hired by Weiden & Kennedy on behalf of Starbucks to provide some guerilla marketing support for the coffeehouse. The image was projected onto Grand Central and other buildings in New York from a van across the street. People who came up to the van to see what was going on were given Starbucks gift cards. But since they were ostensibly using other people's property (OPP) the legal issues are a little fuzzy. While the Grand Central owners say they would have asked the van to move along it appears there are only restrictions on solid structures being erected, so Starbucks and its surrogates appear to be in the clear on this one.

But let's look at this from a marketing perspective. The ad was eye-catching, innovative and, if people became engaged enough by it to inquire about it at the van they were rewarded with a brand-appropriate prize. If they were moved to dial the phone number that appeared in the ad/image they heard a jingle that went along with the image. So they got something tangible and something (probably) humorous. I think that's fantastic work on the part of Nevermind to move people to action and get them to interact with the brand a bit.