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'Nerd' or 'Zero'? Skywriting for an 'Opulent' Boat Party Has Mixed Message

By Serena Dai | June 8, 2015 1:46pm
 A plane write a message in the sky Saturday that many people thought said
A plane write a message in the sky Saturday that many people thought said "NERD."
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Courtesy of Bianca Consunji

New Yorkers who looked up to the sky Saturday evening might have seen an unexpected declaration in the sky — "NERD."

A skywriting plane spelled out the letters in puffs of smoke that could be seen from Prospect Park to Bushwick rooftops after the skies finally turned blue on Saturday around 6:30 p.m.

But as it turns out, the plane wasn't trying to make any statements to the dorks among us.

Shortly after spelling out "NERD," the plane dispersed the smoke and started over to write the actual message: "ZERO," a $4,500 shoutout to a group of people partying on a boat near the Statue of Liberty, hosted by party company Zero.

"It's very difficult," said Ted DeReeder, owner of National Sky Ads, whose pilot spelled the message.

"They look at it upside down and backwards. Ns are the same as Zs. When he came around, he was a little bit confused."

Zero had commissioned the writing for a party it was hosting on a cruise line Saturday evening — an event billed as being filled with "tuxedos and gowns," "opulence and debauchery," "diamonds and jewels" and "red carpets and paparazzi."

Zero owner Richard Hooban thought up the skywriting idea last year for his company — which aims to throw events with "celebration and magic" — and wanted the message to be a nice surprise for guests, he said.

DeReeder said people from as far as 20 miles away probably could have seen it, but Hooban noted that ut wasn't meant to be a marketing promotion for Zero, which often hosts its parties as underground events.

"It was a nice surprise for people attending a small gathering," Hooban said. "I had no idea the impact would be so far reaching."

The skywriting almost didn't happen due to poor weather conditions earlier in the day, DeReeder and Hooban said, but the pilot managed to pull it off.

In fact, by the time most of the people on the boat saw the writing, the "N" had largely disappeared, meaning most people saw it as "ERO," Hooban said.

But even for those who did see the "NERD," Hooban wasn't offended by the bold statement.

"ZERO has a lot of nerd <3," he wrote. "Nerds deserve love as well."

Zero