It started innocently enough. But as the Great Post-It War of 2016 raged on into a second day on Monday, pulling more agencies, brands, neighborhoods and even an industry awards show into its mildly adhesive orbit, it seemed unlikely peacetime, or billable hours, would ever return to Canal Street.
Anyone from Havas New York, Omnicom Health group, Horizon Media or Cake Group arriving to work on Monday thinking the skirmish ended with the previous week was in for a surprise. By lunchtime, @LishKapish, a strategist at Cake Group tweeted out an SOS calling for more black Post-it notes so the team could finish the outline of its Snapchat ghost.
SOS! @Postit @3M We need black #PostItNotes to finish our #SnapchatLogo please! @CakeGroupNY @HavasMedia #CanalNotes pic.twitter.com/uio7BVz8nC
— Lisha (@LishKapish) May 16, 2016
Staples, apparently watching from the sidelines, got the message and came to the rescue. The brand sent a tweet out an hour later that read, "sending reinforcements."
Sending reinforcements! @havasnyc @HarrisonAndStar @cakegroupNY @HorizonMediaInc #CanalStreet #CanalNotes #PostItWar pic.twitter.com/lI4pdyinl0
— Staples US (@Staples) May 16, 2016
The Clio Awards escalated the carnage by offering a free table at this year’s ceremony to the first agency to create a Clio statue out of Post-it notes. Havas New York jumped on the chance and won the free table.
Hey, #CanalNotes agencies! 1st agency to create a #PostItWar CLIO statue wins a free table at the #CLIO2016 event! pic.twitter.com/kdlWvE081z
— Clio Awards (@ClioAwards) May 16, 2016
#CLIO2016 #canalnotes #postit #postitwars @harrisonandstar pic.twitter.com/BCDT0aC7fV
— Jennifer (@jenijune) May 16, 2016
.@JasonMusante @havasnyc, you don’t mess around! You’re going to #CLIO2016! #CanalNotes #ClioOnCanal #PostItWar
— Clio Awards (@ClioAwards) May 16, 2016
Alas, by afternoon, Cake Group found itself unable to carry on. @LishKaplish tweeted that the agency received a cease and desist letter from the building’s landlord.
@ClioAwards We would love to but apparently we have been told to cease and desist fire by the landlord @HavasMedia @havasww @CakeGroupNY
— Lisha (@LishKapish) May 16, 2016
In case the agency had to get rid of all Post-its, @LishKapish asked Post-it what to do with all those notes once the fun is over?
@LishKapish Great question! All #Postit Notes can be recycled and are accepted in most mixed paper waste programs.
— Post-it® Brand (@Postit) May 16, 2016
And as tends to happen, the war is spreading…
Strong Studio tried to start up a Post-it war in the Financial District.
We just started #postitwars FiDi. Until it catches on, we'll drool over these. #canalnotes https://t.co/DKfTPlOxkY pic.twitter.com/KhahsewRKX
— Strong Studio (@StrongStudioNYC) May 16, 2016
Maxus USA created this masterpiece:
Maxus is all about the art, not the banter. #Postitwar #Canalnotes @HorizonMediaInc @havasnyc pic.twitter.com/ZPOljS4uoJ
— Maxus USA (@MaxusUSA) May 16, 2016
Art Director at Riney in San Francisco desires to be in on the fun, but it’s hard with no neighbors.
Would take up the #postitwar cause but the only windows across the st. are on boats #mightdoitanyway pic.twitter.com/xJyTgeT2YM
— Rosana Mojica (@rosmoj) May 16, 2016
The Post-it war has even gone global, thanks to Havas Worldwide Dublin. The Irish agency placed a Pac-Man in its window.
Hey @havasnyc @LishKapish we got yo' back here in Ireland #HavasTogether #CanalNotes #postitwars #creativesgonehome pic.twitter.com/ihTQXA9wZs
— Havas WW Dublin (@HavasWWDUB) May 16, 2016
Back in New York, DNA info captured the artwork with a camera-equipped drone:
Heartbeat Ideas, the creators of the giant Superman symbol made out of Post-its, promises more will come today:
More coming tomorrow #postitwars #canalnotes #HeartbeatIdeasPostItTeam pic.twitter.com/yHnEOfpZwi
— chris cocking (@ccocking) May 17, 2016
With all the media attention (social and otherwise) #postitwars became a Twitter moment!
Everyone's a winner in the #postitwars. https://t.co/V8d09vT3Wg
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) May 17, 2016
Because it’s increasingly hard to follow the action in fill time, below are some other tweets and Instagram posts of this creative art you might have missed.
#canalnotes #postitwars #postit #postitart pic.twitter.com/jG5cecNEZ8
— Jennifer (@jenijune) May 16, 2016
#canalnotes #postitwar #postitwars #GoT #havas #havastonic pic.twitter.com/oMJJk5cunR
— William Previdi (@WilliamPrevidi) May 16, 2016
