By Mickey Friedman
August 25, 2011
It’s been the best and worst of times for Lenox. Smidley, Crump and Crump’s innovative ad campaign: “Lennoxx: We’re More Than We Were; We’re More Than You Expect; And We’re More Than You Imagine” has borne fruit more quickly than some expected. A recent trip to Bean There, Lenox’s upscale coffee shop, found Town Manager Hartley Happ sharing details with doubter Ralph Spitster, owner of “Gazelles & More Gazelles,” the exclusive Church Street gallery.
“We’ve had seventeen more tourists last week than the same time last year. And even though none of them bought a gazelle,” Happ explained, “the word is that six of them had lunch at Strudel, four bought kites at Flight, three spent the afternoon drinking at The Tavern, while only four of them ended up here accidentally. Abigail Starkfield-Crump told me they went the wrong way on the Turnpike. They were looking for Ye Olde Sturbridge and left in a huff without spending a cent.”
Spitster sneered: “Ye Olde, my ass. Sturbridge charges twenty bucks for their phony blacksmith, and their gristmill was built in 1937. As for Crump and Crump’s eighty grand for an extra n and an extra x …”
“Nobody said rebranding was easy,” Hartley Happ countered. “But we were on a roll, Ralph, until the dead dentist fiasco. Unfortunately I’ve been so busy with Smidley, Crump and Crump, I didn’t get a chance to do damage control.”







