Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) commissions artists to design one-of-a-kind packs for Jansport to stand out.

Quaker City Mercantile, a Philadelphia advertising agency, is helping launch some one-of-a-kind promotional backpacks for Jansport Inc.

The backpacks, created by artists commissioned by Quaker City Mercantile, include styles adorned with red crushed velvet, fur, sequins, yarn, artificial turf and even Band-Aids.

"Jansport is such a ubiquitous product. It's synonymous with 'backpack.' They wanted to do something to stand out," said Stephen Grasse, who heads the Society Hill-based ad shop.

Quaker City Mercantile's other clients include sneaker-maker Puma, (Stephen) Starr Restaurants, RJR Tobacco Co., Glenfiddich and Diesel.

But Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) also owns a line of apparel, Sailor Jerry; a retail store in Old City, G-Mart; and a feature film unit, which produced the camp "Bikini Bandits."

In the case of the backpacks, Jansport was seeking a novel concept, Grasse said.

"They approached us. They liked the Puma stuff. They wanted to know how to do something not traditional. This is guerilla marketing, viral marketing," Grasse said. "This is a new business tool. We are an ad agency, but we also know how to bring products to market."

Designers of the packs include Quaker City Mercantile's Nick Paparone and others.

Jansport of Appleton, Wis., is owned by VF Corp., whose brands include Eastpak, Lee, Wrangler and North Face.

Might Jansport lead to other VF work? "That's always the hope," Grasse said.