New York State Of Mind: Manhattan Mini Storage's Unique Marketing

How many ads have you seen today? You’ve likely encountered more than you can remember. Social media, emails, texts, pop-ups, billboards, and mailboxes are stuffed with junk that’s trying to get your attention. However, when there’s too much noise, people either ignore the message or throw it in the trash.

 

But once in a while a company gets creative, cuts through the clutter, and makes people laugh. Honestly, that’s the best way to get any conversation going. If you live in New York City, you’ve likely chuckled when looking at Manhattan Mini Storage’s marketing materials. With locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and New Jersey, they own a majority of the market share in the area; and thanks to their ads’ memorable humor, they likely also own your attention.

 

“We have an internal marketing department and get together for brainstorming sessions where we have no rules,” says Sarah Little, Manhattan Mini Storage’s senior vice president of marketing. This approach makes it clear that creativity thrives when there are no limitations and participants are not hyper worried about how someone else might take a comment or whether it’s too off color. “We don’t even let HR in because it can get pretty irreverent,” she adds with a laugh.

 

Sometimes inspiration comes from personal experiences; other times, TV shows inspire ideas. “For one of our campaigns, we decided to list all the ways having a storage unit is better than having a roommate, especially in New York City, where you can meet some interesting characters,” says Little. “Some of the ideas came from the Netflix series ‘The Worst Roommate Ever.’” With episode titles like “My BFF Tried to Kill Me,” “Housemate from Hell,” and “Burning Down the House,” no matter how you look at it, it makes the prospect of renting storage a lot more appealing than renting a larger apartment with someone else.

 

“We saw what a nightmare it is to find a roommate in NY who isn’t weird,” says Little. “We then played on the theme, well, a storage unit wouldn’t do that. We’re better partners than the vast majority of other humans.”

Other times they explore ideas that may not seem that exciting at first but end up being well received by their audience. “The most unexpected lesson I’ve learned with a brand that embraces humor is that you can never predict what the next viral billboard will be,” says Lydia Bryda, Manhattan Mini Storage’s marketing manager. “Naturally, we have expectations about which content we think will perform best, but sometimes the most underrated ideas that are tossed around in our meetings end up becoming fan favorites. It just goes to show that a successful creative process in marketing cannot exist in a bubble. Teamwork, collaboration, and diverse input are truly essential.”

It also helps that their creative team inherited an existing brand with a witty identity. Back in 2021, StorageMart acquired Manhattan Mini Storage (MMS). By that time, MMS had already established itself as a humorous staple in the city’s self-storage circuit. “Taking that brand under our leadership was intimidating because we wanted to honor what they had,” says Little. “They had such a strong, sassy, recognizable brand, and we wanted to make sure that we kept its essence.”

 

Something that has definitely been instrumental in this type of marketing is the fact that they’re located in New York City. “Our strong New York presence enables us to tailor our brand voice specifically to the city’s unique energy and culture,” she says. “It allows us to take bold risks, and that generally yields bigger rewards.”

 

Unless you’re part of the 1 percent, you’re familiar with the lack of space in a lot of New York City housing, especially in Manhattan. But Manhattan Mini Storage keeps showing over and over again that such limitations are hardly a hindrance to enjoying life. In fact, self-storage has become a lifestyle in the city. As Little explains, people rent spaces as small as a locker to keep their gym bag, work clothes, or seasonal items, all the way to warehouses for startups to run their business. “A lot of our residential customers use the space as an extension of their home because it’s cheaper than a larger apartment,” she says.

 

Since most New Yorkers need the extra storage space, Manhattan Mini Storage uses humor as a powerful connector. “Humor is not a new way of communicating,” says Little, “but it cuts through the noise and helps build memorable and authentic relationships.”

 

They don’t just use humor in their marketing copy. In the spring of 2024, they turned some of their storage units into mini comedy clubs. “I reached out to Brand Up Comedy via LinkedIn, telling them that we’d love to work with them,” Little says. “Thankfully, they replied and pitched the mini comedy club idea to us. We thought it was awkward and hilarious—very New York in that it was so completely unexpected, but actual New Yorkers showed up to do it. And the best part of having the world’s smallest stage is that it sells out fast.”

 

They got inspiration to decorate the sets from 90s TV shows, with Seinfeld vibes and neon lights; this unorthodox idea has paid off. If you aren’t lucky enough to snag a seat in the audience, you could still live stream the shows on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Some of the sets have gone viral, and it’s made it a lot easier for them to fill up their content calendar.

 

The whole concept has enabled them to celebrate being so quintessentially New York. “What we love most about partnering with Manhattan Mini Storage is how they totally get and celebrate that New York vibe: bold, iconic, and always with a laugh,” says David Rosenberg, co-founder of Brand Up Comedy. “They’re not just about storage; they’re real champions of comedy, embracing everything that makes this city so special. They let comics be themselves and really get what makes NYC so funny and unique.”

 

Something else that was unique was the 2024 election cycle. No matter your stance, one thing remained certain: Everyone and their mother was getting offended about something. So what did Manhattan Mini Storage do? Make jokes about it.

 

“We decided to make it cheeky because storage can run the country better,” says Little. “One of our internal graphic designers created the illustrations, and Cris Burnam, our CEO, was the editor-in-chief of that campaign. He’d look at the miniature Trump and say, ‘Make it more orange.’ It was a lot of fun to work on it.”

 

They didn’t just come up with witty copy to get people through their doors. They also partnered with nonprofit nonpartisan organization Rock the Vote to get people registered to vote. To those from the MTV generation, the name likely rings a bell; the organization was created in response to censorship in hip-hop and rap, and it was the music videos channel that helped them spread the word about the importance of making your voice heard.

 

All joking aside, they also thought they could amplify the reach of the campaign and increase voter registration through that partnership. “It really was such a great experience,” says Little. “We had people in the city and from outside New York who checked their voter registration status, and many registered to vote. It was a win all around.” So far, this has been one of her favorite campaigns because it paired humor with a purpose and it sparked meaningful conversations, regardless of whether people loved or hated the billboards.

 

When discussing New York City apartments, it’s common for someone who lives elsewhere in the country to pipe up with comments about all the space they have in, say, Texas, or how much more affordable it is to live in the midwest. But New Yorkers are very clear about their love for their city, even if that means sacrificing living space and often having to rely on self-storage.

 

Little summarized it perfectly. “There was an old billboard ad before we took over. It said something along the lines of ‘You could afford a larger home in the suburbs, but then you’d be in the suburbs.’” Truer words have never been spoken.

 

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Alejandra Zilak studied journalism, went to law school, and now writes for a living. She also loves dogs.