How a Viral Gen Z Hoodie Brand is Maximizing Signage on a Pop-up Tour -

The Dandy Gas Station Tour activation is hard to miss. Peaches and pinks, checker patterns, retro serif fonts, and other eye candy, like a classic car or a branded bus parked out front, offer a no-filter experience for eager superfans who’ve lined up for exclusive merch and photo ops with the viral e-commerce clothing brand.

Launched in May in Huntington Beach, CA, the one-day event popped up in Chicago this summer and, this past weekend, in Brooklyn, NY, attracting more than 2,000 consumers. Superfans have even camped out in the queue overnight to be among the first 100 on-site to receive one of the brand’s hoodies for free.

“Our main goal for this activation wasn’t about driving short-term sales, or having people randomly stumble across our pop-up. It was directed towards people who already wear or love our brand. We wanted to strengthen our emotional ties with those people and create something unforgettable that they resonate with,” says Kian Schank, co-owner, Dandy. “We were focused on moments that could be shared organically through social media and letting the experience and photos speak for themselves.”

The strategy behind the program is rooted in the brand’s social media presence and in its apparel—a tour, born out of fan polling to decide where the Dandy Gas Station should pop up next, and a creative brief that pays homage to the intricate embroidery and graphics on the clothing.

Here, we dig into the design strategy that was a “visual extension of our brand world,” according to Schank, starting with the in-market wild postings-style promos that generated localized excitement for the events.

Every angle scrutinized.

The 50×50-foot service station-inspired build is an event tent system wrapped in a false façade to give it the appearance of a substantial building. The team at partner agency Evolve scouted and scrutinized every angle of each event site, and as part of the creative process, leveraged Google Earth to determine its orientation—how it would catch the sunset, how a skyline or coastline appeared behind it, or whether a pair of palm trees would “frame” the activation in consumer photos (often shot in 16:9, of course).

The team also rotated the 3D model in CAD software to examine everything from how cleanly the corners wrapped, to ensuring that every angle of the activation didn’t feel forgotten, and that there were messages to discover and photograph from top to bottom, side to side. In Chicago, where the activation took place in a parking lot, the team created additional wraps and coverings for existing signage, like at parking pay stations that could get in the way of the perfect shot.

Materials that withstand action.

The activation was designed as a walkthrough experience of a not-so-typical convenience store. Signage was created using both vinyl and wooden dimensional cutouts that were painted, the use of either chosen depending on how pieces of the façade needed to come apart for travel. Some components that were initially planned to be printed on vinyl ended up being painted, like the checkers motif.

Damaged vinyl often requires replacing an entire graphic, whereas with paint, small touchups can be made to anything “dinged” in transit. Not to mention, as the team at Evolve points out, wood stands up to the elements best, whether it’s salty air on the coastline, or rain and wind in the Midwest.

The devil is in the details.

Real vintage reproduction gas pumps anchored the entrance to the pop-up, while security mirrors with decals on them, store shelves stocked with fake product reskinned with Dandy branding, and of course, plenty of exclusive merch to shop—along with a patchwork studio to customize it all—awaited consumers inside.

The exterior footprint featured a classic branded ice chest and newspaper stand both equipped with combination locks. Consumers scratched off cards to reveal a four-digit code they could dial to potentially unlock prizes inside. The founders dropped in for photos, as did key influencers.

“It was very important to us that the pop-up was instantly recognizable as Dandy from all angles,” Schank says. “We wanted the aesthetic of the pop-up to feel like something from our Instagram. Agencies: Evolve (concept, design and logistics); Struct (fabrication).