Dominique Browning, the editor in chief of House & Garden magazine, is scheduled to be perched in a window of the store on the first day of Design Happening, a week of events intended to promote the importance of design and architecture in New York City.

Ms. Browning is to be joined in the window displays by other notable New Yorkers: Cindy Adams, the gossip columnist; Adrian Benepe, the city parks commissioner; the designers Jamie Drake and Albert Hadley; and Jay McInerney, the author.

House & Garden is teaming up with NYC & Company, the marketing organization of the city government, to put on Design Happening, which is to, er, happen through Oct. 21. Other sponsors include the American Society of Interior Designers; the Center for Architecture, home of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects; the New York Design Center; and WCBS-TV and WWFS-FM (Fresh 102.7), owned by the CBS Corporation.

Design Happening — dig that groovy 1960s name — will overlap the second annual National Design Week, which is to take place from Sunday through Oct. 20. The national week is sponsored by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York and Target.

•

House & Garden, part of the Condé Nast Publications division of Advance Publications, will spend an estimated $1 million on the week, which includes tours of Gracie Mansion, bicycle rides along the Hudson River and a screening of “Goodfellas” as part of a presentation called “Design at the Movies.” A schedule can be found at designhappening.com.

The events are emblematic of efforts by traditional media companies like Condé Nast to make properties like magazines seem more relevant as the digital media grow in importance.

“The No. 1 thing advertisers tell us is they want to do something beyond the usual,” said Joseph Lagani, vice president and publisher at House & Garden.

“Magazines that can’t do this will be relegated to selling pages rather than a marketing opportunity,” he added.

Design Happening is also an example of a trend on Madison Avenue known as experiential marketing, which seeks to present venerable products in new, tangible forms.

“It makes our brand come to life,” Mr. Lagani said. “Consumers get to see it, feel it, touch it.”

At Crate & Barrel, owned by Otto Versand of Germany, executives are also seeking experiential ideas.

“We want to be where the action is,” said Kathy Paddor, director for marketing in Northbrook, Ill.

“It’s about engagement” with current and potential customers, she added, who “feel that design is fundamental to the way they live.”

“Magazines are definitely looking for ways to make their advertisers more special in the marketplace,” Ms. Paddor said. “It’s good for both of us.”

Taking part in the House & Garden events also “reflects our commitment to the design community of New York,” she added, and helps set Crate & Barrel apart from other retailers of home furnishings.

The appearances by Ms. Browning and the other New Yorkers in the windows of the Crate & Barrel store will each run from 45 minutes to an hour, Ms. Paddor said. They will be seated on chairs meant to reflect their personalities; Mr. Benepe, reflecting his duties, will be seated on a park bench.

•

The week of events with design themes will come three weeks after Advertising Week 2007 and almost six weeks after New York Fashion Week. Are New Yorkers strong enough to endure so many weeks dedicated to various kinds of commerce?

“The design aesthetic of New York is an undermarketed attraction,” said George A. Fertitta, chief executive of NYC & Company.

“From a marketing and tourism perspective, it makes sense to capitalize on something the city is becoming known for,” he added.

Mr. Lagani agreed.

“For years, we’ve seen the world of fashion drive a lot of the conversation in the world of pop culture, then food,” he said. “Now, design is what’s making the culture pop.”

A campaign for Design Happening includes television and radio commercials, ads in House & Garden, posters on the sides of buses, banners affixed to city lampposts and a 116-page program guide, which carries ads from brands like ABC Carpet and Home, Drexel Heritage, Samsung, Stickley and Zippo.

Also, the November issue of House & Garden is devoted to design in New York. The actress Gwyneth Paltrow is featured on the cover.

A headline on the cover reads, “At Home With Gwyneth Paltrow.” Presumably, it is her home in New York rather than her home in London.