Seeing Eye Lighting Design and 4Wall New York Unveil JCP's New Look

JC Penney recently unveiled a new branding campaign to reinvent the company as JCP, a change not only in name but in the look and feel of their entire retail presence.

To reveal the full scope of this new campaign to the public, JCP hosted an event at Pier 57 in New York City. Hosted by the company's new CEO Ron Johnson, lighting for the event was handled by Paul Efron of Seeing Eye Lighting Design and equipment provider 4Wall New York.

The concept of the event was to showcase just how much the new JCP would differ from past incarnations. The audience in attendance found themselves entering through a 300' hallway filled with dated advertisements, loud noises, and an overall chaos that symbolized the "old" J.C. Penney. The end of the hallway then gave way to a serene white auditorium of blue skies and gently moving clouds, the pristine area signifying what the new JCP would bring to the table.

Tasked with turning an older venue and a dilapidated pier into a serene and soothing place, Efron was provided with a space built out with white-washed walls. The designer covered this blank canvas with color and templates from Chroma-Q Color Force LEDs and Vari*Lite VLX LED washes, and created digital clouds using VL3500 spots and media server-fed projection.

Behind the clouded walls JCP also laid in wait six retail vignettes to be revealed during the presentation by the movement of automated travelers. On cue these travelers opened showing a number of JCP's new brand partners. To light these reveals, Efron used a combination of Martin MAC 301 LEDs, Vari*Lite VL3500 spots, and ETC Source Fours.

"The MAC 301s were especially useful as they were able to be employed and focused on demand, which became extremely important due to the last minute nature of the installation of each vignette -- some of which were not in place until the morning of the event," said Efron.

In addition to the fixtures used for the wall and stage area, Efron's equipment list from 4Wall included over 90 Mac 301's that were employed as a house lighting solution, as well as more than 100 Color Force compact fixtures used as truss toners.