ExploreNB Activation

“We’re doing a brand activation at the World Pond Hockey Championships in Plaster Rock in the middle of February – want to help us make that happen?”

When we’re talking about promoting New Brunswick, the answer is always a resounding YES.

Little did we know…

The cold was major. But we planned ahead, dressed in layers (and layers) and brought fire-pits, hot chocolate by the gallon, and oh yes, a heated Yurt.

This was the Department of Tourism Heritage and Culture’s debut event with its new ExploreNB brand, and they wanted to promote the core values of their new identity – specifically authentic experiences. So we went ahead and created one – a big one.

“So bear with us on this, but we want to share our vision for what’s possible rink-side,” we said.

And bless their hearts, they did.

We pitched the following:

The big circle in the middle – that’s the Yurt.

We called Little Foot Yurts and basically begged them to pull one of their lovely yurts out of storage and make the drive to Plaster Rock for the event. It was the first time they’d done a winter event, but they were game!

The Yurt was our anchor experience, and we knew people would be curious about it. Curious enough to drop in, have a look, and mingle with New Brunswick-made products.

We built our activation concept around “the Warm Welcome Lounge” (and with -30 degree weather rink-side, it was much needed!) Inside we offered cozy seating and blankets, casual food experiences, supplier demos, and tourism advice for weekend getaways. Outside we added design-y custom-built signage promoting ExploreNB’s Northern Odyssey route and City escapes, and a fire-pit mingling area, maple table demonstrations and s’mores,

We worked together with the Tourism team to locally source brand-appropriate furniture (which we fire-branded with the ExploreNB logo), and custom-built branded fire pits that were seriously gorgeous.

As we unpacked the truck, people kept dropping by the setup to ask if we were selling the items!

We assembled our signs under the fireworks on the first day, crossed our fingers that our vehicles would start the next day in a -35 deep-freeze, and welcomed the world into our Lounge.

It was a memorable time: lots of fine people, lots of sunshine, and lots of fun. Plus it was a great way to spend Valentine’s Day.