Brands/Auto: inside Cadillac House

Cadillac House is one of the brand’s most public-facing initiatives and a signal that they're serious about being part of its new home in NYC. We got an exclusive look at the experiential space with John Bricker, a Partner and the Creative Director atGensler, who has worked with Cadillac for the last several years to rethink (and bring to life) their dealerships and new NYC HQ.

Cadillac has a few goals: to actively engage with NYC’s cultural scene and be a part of their west SoHo neighborhood. Of course, they want to attract new people to the brand too, and see Cadillac House as a means of creating a dialog with them. There's a coffee bar, a retail space for up-and-coming designers, a gallery supporting artists with their less commercial work, frequent programming and a place to hang out or work. Melody Lee, Cadillac’s Director of Brand Marketing, says that “While Cadillac product will be featured prominently, Cadillac House is more about placing the brand at the heart of art, fashion, design, film and community. It’s about Cadillac finding points of intersection for the brand with our customers’ passions and interests, and being the brand that helps them pursue them.” Taking its “Dare Greatly” messaging to heart, the brand sees Cadillac House as a way to live that. Nathan Tan, the Associate Director of Brand Partnerships and Experiences, adds “…Cadillac House is our commitment to substantively investing in and shaping culture rather than just co-opting it for our own gain. Cadillac House is a statement of intent that brands can and should be producers of culture, not just advertisers.”

Gensler recommended that the front part of the building be recessed, creating a raised veranda and a set back entrance. It’s unusual, and it demands attention from people walking or driving by. Having a vintage Cadillac parked there is a nod to the brand’s long history, but placed in a very modern setting, with glass and mirrors and video screens inferring that what lies inside isn’t about what used to be. Bricker says “Cadillac House is called ‘House’ because it isn’t about a shop or a showroom, it’s a place for people to socialize as one would in a house.” He adds, “Using product sends a message that this is a destination that’s unique. We’ve interrupted the façade of this industrial manufacturing building from turn-of-the-(20th) century and punched it out with modern sensibility with this great street presence."

Time to Pull The Plug: Madea's Big Happy Family Movie Trailer Official (HD)

"I've been sick a long time."

So says Mama Shirley (played in yeoman fashion Tyler Perry staple Loretta Devine), but it may as well have come form the writer-director-star in reference to this franchise. From its beginnings in obscure theatre, Perry's malapropping, gun-toting (she relies on her hands this time around), foul-mouth drag creation made him a household name and oodles of money - to the point where his Tyler Perry Studios receives top billing alongside releasing studio Lionsgate.

But Madea and her "hell-er!!" schtick really has as much miles on it as the beat-up Cadillac that she continues to torture. Like a soap opera that you can skip five episodes and come back spot on with the storyline, or an over-formatted radio station where you can guess the songs in a particular order on nay given day, Madea's "Family" is entirely predictable. Even the few genuinely funny highlights - such as the first time inside Madea's house with Uncle Joe (Perry again, doing an Eddie Murphy), and the "weedheaded" antics of Aunt Bam, cannot rescue the thinking viewer from the tedium of the sundry family dramas, with the revelations coming thick and fast in the film's final third.

Of course, die-hard Madea followers will lap up this latest offering and will revel in the little distractions, like the "By-reeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnn!! of the nagging "baby-mama" and the recurrent views of trash talk show host Maury Povich.

The rest of us will simply groan in torture as Madea's death throes continue.