The Real Good Experiment by Blu Dot
January 20, 2010 // Furniture + Video

I’ve been on kind of a video binge lately, and this is what started it all. On Thursday, I think I’m going to post nothing but videos for the day, but that’s besides the point. I remember hearing about this little experiment a few months back that Blu Dot, a store that sells high-end design furniture, would be giving away 25 chairs in random locations scattered throughout New York. The buzz on Twitter alone was pretty exciting. But as it turned out, they had much more in mind, what they called The Real Good Experiment.

They ended up watching the chairs from afar, waiting to see who would take them. Not only that, but they even rigged the chairs up with GPS units just in case they lost them somehow. As you’ll see in the video they were able to track a few of them down and then interview the people who took the chairs, to ask them why they took them.

For some reason I find this video absolutely magical. The production value of the video is off the scale, most notably for me was the audio. It’s also funny to see who passes up the chair and who actually takes them. Note to large brands: this is how you get people to buy your products.

Bobby

  1. Bobby,

    If i discovered that my dumpstered kitchen table, lead letter drawer, bureau, and end table had hidden GPS tracking units and that I had been tracked down by a design company for promotional purposes… I’d shit myself and burn all my furniture. Since when did dumpstering become an advertising and design tool pimped out by cool-hunting design bloggers? Does this voice-over-mash-up of William Gibson’s PATTERN RECOGNITION + 1984 not strike you as a harrowing combination?

    But I guess you dig the “Magic” of it.

    -Ben

    Comment by Ben King — January 20, 2010 #

  2. Plus, it’s a beautiful chair!

    Comment by Thomas Vanhuyse — January 20, 2010 #

  3. What a fantastic video! I loved the audio, this is a great idea, thank you for sharing this with us.

    Comment by Dea — January 20, 2010 #

  4. Do you ever wonder of this type of marketing. That’s an amazing chair and if someone ever asked me why I took it, I would say ”It’s a blu dot flat pack classic !” But I have seen more and more of this type of viral marketing recently, web 2.0 is not immune to set up marketing. We have seen plenty of fake people, in fake towns and fake apartments be amazing spokesperson for products. Here in Montreal, Bixi, a great product, have done it:
    http://communities.canada.com/shareit/blogs/technology/archive/2009/05/12/the-bixi-blog-bs-brouhaha-an-apex-of-fake-authenticity.

    Coke have been guilty also
    http://thezeromovementsucks.blogspot.com/

    So even if this is not a case of large corp and is indeed a great product I can’t help but think how every bits and parts of the apartments have been curated, glasses, haircuts. It just looks a tad sugarcoated to my well trained eye…

    Comment by leyo — January 20, 2010 #

  5. Love this! Funny, and creative. Functional. I hope the creators do this again. I will be on the hunt.

    Comment by K — January 20, 2010 #

  6. I’d like to believe that this is all as true as it would like to be, but I’m agreeing with Leyo. Mostly cause of the kid riffing on the guitar, which then blossoms into a fully studio-prepped audio track. You’re certainly right about the production there, Bobby.

    But at the same time, not all of it has to be a set-up, people do just dump stuff and others make off with it. The older dude who took the red chair seemed genuine enough. In the last six months I’ve managed to re-home a bookshelf, a coffee table, a cd rack, an ornate pair of jewelry chests which double up as excellent stationary cupboards, and a very vintage canvas sports bag. If I came across a chair like this I’d lift it without second thought.

    And Ben, if anyone should be championing dumpstering it’s those involved in the design industry. Given the obscene amount of waste generated by poorly designed products or, worse, deliberately throwaway bumpf, finding a new use for anything unwanted is commendable. Obviously Blu Dot were never going to chuck the chairs, but promoting a product with an idea is still promoting the idea.

    Plus, it’s a pretty cool video, staged or no.

    Comment by Ryan — January 20, 2010 #

  7. love it, love it, love it …… um, love it.

    Very Wes Anderson esq with a twist.

    Comment by Swift. — January 20, 2010 #

  8. If there’s something that I admire of New York is this general idea of aesthetics on everything, they have a highly evolved idea of design, wich I love. Besides that, like I said on another post of yours, there’s nothing more hotter than an english woman’s accent

    Comment by chipotle — January 20, 2010 #

  9. This is awesome! And the chair looks great!! Thank you Bobby for finding and posting these great videos!

    Comment by Per — January 22, 2010 #