By Anna Skinner
When Mark Spencer moved his Legacy Window and Door business to Carmel from Westfield, he continuously watched cars drive by his new business on Range Line Road without slowing or stopping. Whenever Spencer drove past a property in Carmel on Smokey Row Road, he saw a man working to paint the fence out front. Each day, a piece of the fence was completed.
“What I found reassuring about it was a little more of that fence was done each day,” he said. “In our crazy, rushed world, the painter never seemed to be rushed. When I got back, I thought how could I illustrate that?”
So spurred the idea of Andi and Ollie who arrived in August, young sibling mannequins that worked on different projects in front of the Legacy Window and Door property, XXXX. Spencer changes their positions and activities each day.
“We really expect Andi and Ollie to boost our Facebook account,” Spencer said. “It’s boosted the business, we have people that have said they had no idea there was a window and door company on Range Line. It’s a non-crass, non-commercial way to communicate with all the neighbors and also fit in with the arts and design.”
Spencer sets the Little People, as the city has learned to call them, up every morning. Some days they are doing activities such as gardening and holding lightbulbs and other days they are set up to play sports. Spencer said their favorite sport was croquet.
“People seem to really like it when they’re doing something simple. It’s fun and it makes you smile,” Spencer said. “It just gets us closer to the community. I joke that these are our best employees, they’ve never complained.”
Spencer purchases old antique toys to use as props for Andi and Ollie. The sibling mannequins will also be in the Carmel Fourth of July parade.
“It turned out to be a good marketing strategy for our company,” Spencer said.
