[In Sultry Voice Of Samantha] Never Mind His Ad Campaign, Tell Me About His Briscoe!

If everything goes according to plan, millions of Europeans will one day flock to New York 2.0, the birthplace of Carrie Bradshaw:

George A. Fertitta has helped sell a lot of pricey Belgian chocolates and French cognac to New Yorkers. Now he has to sell New York to Belgians, Frenchmen and others who may consider the city too costly, too dangerous or too American to visit.

Mr. Fertitta is spearheading Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s campaign to lure 50 million visitors a year to the city by 2015. That would be about six million more out-of-towners than the city, which is riding a long wave of tourism and economic growth, attracted last year.

. . .

To increase the influx, the city is spending more money than ever to promote itself overseas. Fueled by the mayor’s commitment of an additional $15 million a year, the city’s marketing operation, known as NYC & Company, has begun placing billboards in some European cities declaring that with exchange rates in their favor, New York is a relative bargain.

Those ads are aimed at knocking down one negative perception about New York: that it is prohibitively expensive.

An international ad campaign in the works, a first for the city, will try to dispel two other stereotypes: that New Yorkers are exceptionally rude, and that crime is rife in the city. Mr. Fertitta said he would rather foreigners picture “Sex and the City” than “Law & Order.”

Under Mr. Fertitta, NYC & Company has hired an advertising agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, to create the campaign, which is expected to begin later this year.

. . .

To change people’s negative views of New York’s grime, crime and prices, he said, the city can piggyback on the invaluable boost it gets from pop-culture cynosures like Carrie Bradshaw, the lead character in “Sex and the City,” the internationally popular TV show.

“To some people, New York City is ‘Sex and the City’ and the best shoes in the world,” Mr. Fertitta said. “They want to see where Carrie Bradshaw sat on the stoop.”

Next Up: The Newark Condom; Also, Get Sewell Chan Laid!

The official New York City condom was finally unveiled yesterday:

The new “NYC Condom” is the same as those already distributed by the Health Department. And the price hasn’t changed — they’re still free. But the package has a new look, inspired by the subway, which officials and community leaders hope will increase education and awareness about HIV/AIDS and safe sex.

“Any successful product has a strong brand,” said Kenneth Cole, who hosted the launch at Rockefeller Center yesterday morning, in a statement. “And condoms are no different.”

More than 150,000 condoms were handed out after the launch to commuters.

Also being rolled out — a Mitt Romney-inspired special undergarment:

Along with the condoms, and a bilingual advertising campaign, the city also announced a new line of underwear and T-shirts that sport a condom-sized pocket for handy access during moments of passion, and a label that reads: “This garment and its contents should be worn whenever conceivable.”

And nothing against Sewell Chan, that total workhorse, but it seems that more and more his reporting is exhibiting this obsessively detailed quirkiness (mild Asperger’s?) — see, for example:

On Valentine’s Day last year, the health department announced that it was developing the first New York City-branded condom. That effort culminated in yesterday’s mass distribution of the condoms, timed to Valentine’s Day, which also happened to be Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 65th birthday.

The new condoms do not bear the official seal of the city, an image of a big apple or an outline of the city’s skyline. The black plastic wrapper simply says “NYC condom” on the front, with each letter in a circle, like the letters used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to denote subway lines. (The authority gave the city permission to use the letters, which are the intellectual property of the subway system.)

Distributed by Ansell Healthcare Products of Dothan, Ala., the condoms handed out yesterday were made in Malaysia and expire in September 2011.

I hope his noticing when the things expire isn’t, you know, some sort of insight into Chan’s personal life . . .

New York: Take It Or Leave It

As plans move forward to revamp Milton Glaser’s “I [heart] NY” campaign, it turns out that all you have to do to rebrand nowadays is fuck with the syntax a little:

Hearts are aflutter at ad agencies now that the state wants to pump up its 30-year-old “I [heart] New York” campaign.

The Daily News asked the experts how they would revamp the tourism promotion and got some sweet ideas.

Downtown agency Droga5 would start by taking Milton Glaser’s now-iconic logo, “I [heart] NY,” and reverse it to “NY [heart] I.”

“True love is a mutual thing,” said Duncan Marshall, Droga5 executive creative director. “So you want to remind people that New York loves you back.”

. . .

For Mark Wnek, New York chairman and chief creative officer of the Lowe agency, a key challenge is to broaden the campaign to attract visitors to all regions of the state, not just New York City.

“I’d keep the logo because it’s such a powerful iconic bit of symbolism, but I’d change it to emphasize there’s a lot of New York to love,” Wnek said.

Recalling a recent drive with his wife to Lake Placid, he added, “I don’t think a lot of people know they can drive for six hours in the state and enjoy beautiful scenery much of the way.”

Wnek reworked Glaser’s slogan to say, “NY There’s More To Than You Think.”

. . .

Glaser’s innovative use of the heart shape has been widely imitated.

“But if I were given the assignment today, I’d start . . . from scratch,” he said. “The burden of history with that thing might be too much if you want to think fresh.”

The Empire State Development Corp. — which called for ad agency proposals on Monday — had received 26 requests for its written specifications as of yesterday.

Fallen Angel

Arthur Wood plans to raise the money to preserve the code violation/sculptural element atop his Clinton Hill building by working with developers to turn the property into condos:

Broken angel will soar again, even higher than before, provided Brooklyn’s real estate prices stay in the stratosphere.

Artist Arthur Wood has cut a deal to save his eccentric Clinton Hill creation — one that envisions condos under a rebuilt rooftop sculpture.

“It will be taller, more majestic. We may even light it up at night, and it will be nicer,” Wood, 75, said yesterday.

He rejected offers of as much as $1.8 million that would have destroyed the 108-foot building in favor of one that will preserve it, he said.

He may even lose money, depending on how the condos sell, he added.

“It was tempting to take the money and leave, but I couldn’t do that,” Wood said. “The building is a living entity, and I wasn’t about to abandon it.”

Local developer Shahn Andersen agreed Saturday to buy a 50% stake in the structure, financing the rebuilding of Wood’s creation with potential profits from condos.

“I told Arthur that even if he wasn’t going to partner with me, he needed to do whatever it was going to take to save Broken Angel,” Andersen said.

Chris Wood, Arthur’s son, said his family’s first preference had not been condos — which he called “the nasty C-word” — but rather to create a museum. However, no benefactor had stepped forward.

The deal will allow Wood to meet the city’s deadlines to demolish the parts of Broken Angel that pose a fire hazard, Andersen said, estimating that resurrecting Broken Angel will cost a few million dollars.

(Don’t believe their lies!)

I Hope Those Three Tons Hit Their Target

San Men must need more overtime or something:

Times Square revelers will greet the new year amid a blizzard of 7,000 pounds of confetti — three times the usual amount, event organizers said yesterday.

A hundred confetti-tossers will hurl the more than 3 tons of shredded paper from 11 buildings during a five-hour celebration leading up to midnight.

And this year, the party paper will be inscribed with such goodwill messages as “peace,” “celebrate” and “dance,” according to event coordinator Treb Heining.

“It’s inspirational,” Heining said of the celebration, which is sponsored by retailer Target.

Beginning at 7 p.m. a countdown at the top of each hour will prompt a 1,000-pound torrent of the flame-proof notes, called word-fetti. Fireworks will accompany the first five confetti drops leading up to the finale.

“It’s millions and millions and millions of separate pieces,” said Heining, of Newport Beach, Calif., who has been managing the Times Square confetti drops for 15 years.

. . .

Volunteers, working in supervised crews, are trained in the craft of paper-pitching to avoid an occupational hazard Heining calls confetti arm.

They also must shed any rings or watches to ensure that they don’t accidentally drop anything heavier than the paper they scoop out of 45-pound boxes.

“You don’t just pick up the box and dump it out, because there’s a possibility the box will fall,” Heining said. “You have to pick the confetti out, there’s really a special technique for throwing it that I can’t describe, but it’s all coordinated with the crew chiefs using the walkie-talkies.”

You know, while Wal-Mart has remained a perennial punching bag here (“‘Our people are crazy about bling,’ he said. ‘They aren’t crazy about Wal-Mart'”), Target makes out pretty well in this town . . .