A Full-Immersion Commercial

Opening today on Times Square: Pop-Tarts World. A real estate broker quoted in the New York Times article notes that the billboards for the store cost as much as the real estate it occupies, which is staggering and fascinating.

Who, even among the most lumpen Manhattan tourists, says, “We need some Pop-Tarts. Let’s go to the Pop-Tarts World.”?

I’d argue this isn’t a store at all. Rather, it’s a real-world, full-immersion Kellogg’s commercial. It’s an experience. It’s a virtual reality without the stupid goggles. And it’s getting close to what the hand-wringers were referring to when they lamented the Disneyfication of old New York.