Your Toronto Brand Activation Connection

White Glove Deployment of Engaging Brand Activations in the GTA and beyond for over two decades.

Brand Activations Case Studies

Shea Moisture Product Launch

An exclusive green screen Activation for Shea Moisture’s product launch event allowing VIPs to interact with the brand in their very own fashion shoot.

Adidas Retail Activation

A unique activation for Adidas new flagship Montreal store opening. We branded our signature DJ game in order to draw attention and foot traffic to the store. Customers had a blast!

Mejuri Mobile Festival Activation

Creation of a custom branded bicycle cart and custom branded popcorn packets perfect for capturing film festival goers attention and building some buzz around the brand.

Rogers 5G Gamified Brand Experience

An immersive challenge that embodied speed to promote a new high-speed 5G network to small businesses at the OneEleven Tech Summer Social.

Manulife National Photo Activation

An experiential green screen activation in Manulife flagship locations deployed across Canada to kick off Manulife’s new campaign, “A little can do a lot”, “Your little voice knows”.

Marc Jacobs Daisy Love Launch

A customized ice cream activation emulated the Marc Jacobs Daisy Love brand image allowing brand ambassadors to capture customers' attention at Shoppers Drug Mart Stores across Toronto.

Explore our arsenal of highly unique and relevant event rentals, fun foods, and entertainment ideas—perfect for brand activations and experiential marketing events.

We have worked with hundreds of different PR agencies, marketing companies, and corporations to help them generate consumer engagement events that stand out

What is a Brand Activation?

Brand activations encompass raising awareness by telling a story to create an emotional response from your targeted audience. When dealing with emotions we tend to remember the where, what, why, and how. We want people to interact with the brand in a meaningful way and in turn create a buzz about it.

What others say about your product is more valuable than what you say. The brand activation experience should have an element of surprise and fun which in turn will make your service or product more memorable. If your brand activation stimulates the audience to fulfill a desired goal—such as sharing your message on social media—then you know you have done your job!

Brand Activation Ideas

Follow along for some great examples of Brand Activation ideas which are successful and have people talking and sharing.

Photo Activation Ideas

A brilliant brand activation campaign by Manulife’s “A little can do a lot” using a green screen placed the participant in the body of the ad allowing them to personalize it with their own “little voice”. Everyone who participated received a takeaway photo featuring them as stars of the ad.

A successful brand activation example using a green screen photo booth was used by Shea Moisture Products. VIP’s were invited to participate in a photo shoot using the products. This created excitement within the staff who in turn found it easy to design brand activation campaigns.

Best Brand Activation Ideas Using Gamifications

Rogers Communications wanted to promote their new High-speed 5G network. What better way to introduce this innovative product than to brand an electronic game of speed and precision called Strike-A-Light. This gamified branding created a lot of excitement as guests were invited to participate in the game of speed. Prizes emulating the 5G experience were handed out.

Adidas was looking for in store activation ideas for their new flagship store opening. Our signature DJ Game was branded with the Adidas Logo. This activation idea created a great deal of attention and drew foot traffic to the store. Customers had a fantastic time!

Great Brand Activation Campaigns Involving Sampling

Sampling your food or drink product increases the likelihood of a person purchasing your product. Experiential marketing is the way to go to encourage consumers to buy your product especially when they have had a positive experience.

Prosperity Foods participates in the Bakery Show Case in Toronto once every two years. Sales were not brisk in the past. However, last year we set up the booth using clear branded glass containers of various sizes to better display their products. In addition, visitors were able to sample products such as almonds, candy sprinkles, chocolate chips etc. in branded bags. Sales after the show increased substantially by 25 %. For the next trade show, we will be recommending our branded vintage candy cart which will attract even more buyers!

Activation Ideas to Promote Team Spirit

The Toronto Maple Leafs celebrated their 100th anniversary! To commemorate this milestone, we branded our vintage candy cart with the Maple Leaf logo and filled it with blue and white candy. The team was on a sugar high!

There is no “me” in team spirit. There is only “we”. One of the best brand activation campaigns incorporating team spirit is Pay it Forward. Our client Waste Connections has their team coordinate fund raising and all the logistics for a bike building activity at their Christmas party. Close to 300 bikes are donated to children who otherwise would never own a bike. This event is perfect for lots of photos and postings on social media. (Don’t forget to get permission from the folks to allow their photos to be posted).

Brand Activation Marketing at Conferences

A creative on-street activation for promoting brand awareness for attendees at WPC was for Ingram Micro. Five branded ice cream carts stocked with branded ice cream treats were placed at strategic positions in order to catch attendees entering the conference. Over 3 days, 3000 branded ice cream treats were handed out. This created a positive buzz and there were a lot of selfies being taken to share on social media! Now this is what we’re talking about!

Imagine this! It is a hot steamy summer morning and you are standing in line for admittance to a conference. There are thousands of attendees. Along comes one of the best brand activation ideas ever. Complimentary iced coffee served by a Brand Ambassador from mobile beverage backpacks are handed out. These backpacks may be branded with your company logo. Cool idea! Right?

Brand Activation Ideas at Festivals

The Toronto Film Festival according to Wikipedia attracts over 480,000 people annually. Whoa! That’s a lot of folks. Mejuri, a company who sells fine jewelry for everyday wanted to create a buzz around their brand using the Toronto Film Festival as a segue. We assisted them in creating a brand experience by designing a custom branded bicycle cart containing branded bags of popcorn. Brand ambassadors gave out thousands of bags to very happy festival goers to enjoy.

Who doesn’t love butter tarts? For the past five years Cakes by Robert, an icon in the nut free bakery industry in Toronto has been participating in the Butter Tart Festival in Midland as part of his brand activation campaign. His distinct purple and white logo adorn the booth attracting festival goers. In order to win a dozen mouthwatering butter tarts, you need to follow Cakes by Robert on Instagram and post on social media.

Brand Activation Marketing at Trade Shows

One of the best marketing ideas for brand awareness was at the Montreal Toy Show many years ago. The Cabbage Patch doll was being introduced. The display was ingenious. There were Brand Ambassadors dressed as nurses and doctors in a hospital nursery setting taking care of the newborn cabbage patch babies. Sales were swift and the factories worked overtime to keep up with orders.

Another great branding awareness activation was for Walters Surface Products at the Toronto Conference Centre. Branded ice cream carts and branded ice cream cups were handed out to all the attendees. The brand image was further enhanced with the orange ice cream we sourced to match the Walters Surface Branding.

Brand Activation Ideas Using Guerilla Marketing

When the going gets tough then the tough get going! When traditional strategies aren’t working you can turn to Guerilla Marketing. Here is where creativity, original thinking and imagination come into play. Imagine this…. Giant footprints in the sand were being used to promote the King Kong movie. Guess what people were doing. Snapping photos and sharing them on social media. Ingenious!

Another great brand activation idea is when Guinness used a popular bar to promote their product by putting a small band on each pool cue to remind their audience to partake in their product. Small outlay, but huge response.

Encouraging Positive Word of Mouth with in-Store Activation Ideas

A good example of product sampling and creating a buzz is the branded ice-cream activation emulating the Marc Jacobs Daisy Love Brand in Shoppers Drug Mart Stores across Toronto. In addition, the audiences were given samples of the new perfume blend. (By the way, Daisy is my favorite brand after being introduced to it by my granddaughters! (Word of mouth!)

An in-store activation Idea that will give the biggest bang for your buck is one in which the audience will receive a free sample. (We all love free, don’t we?) One of the best in-store activation examples that I have encountered is at Sephora. When you make a purchase and enter your email address, Sephora will send you birthday greetings and invite you into a store to receive your birthday gift bagged in their distinctly branded black and white gift bag. Sephora knows that the likelihood of you leaving the store without making a purchase for another product(s) is well, nil. Oh, you also are rewarded with points towards future product.

Activation Ideas to turn a Negative into a Positive

What do most people complain about? No time for working out. Lucozade Sport did it with their “Wait Training” brand activation campaign. Live fitness instructors on bus stop TV screens encouraged people to exercise while waiting. The reward was a bottle of sport drink was given to everyone after the workout. A Perfect Instagramable Moment. Brilliant!

Being put on telephone hold is a pet peeve for everyone. Why not make this a positive experience by having trivia sessions for your customers? Multiple choice questions should be about your company i.e., when was it founded, how many products does it sell etc. Key in the correct number on your phone. Reward your customer with a gift card or a free service for getting all the correct answers. No bored or irate customers anymore!

Brand Activation Campaigns with Vending Machines! What?

Say goodbye to your everyday vending machines dispensing snacks and drinks and say hello to the latest technology of social powered and interactive vending machines. Create a buzz around your existing product or the launch of a new product. These machines can be gamified with touch screen and integrated with social platforms. These machines are perfect for dispensing samples, sweets, jewelry and other types of swag.

Creating Experiential Brand Activations that are Instagramable

You are on holidays and what is the first thing you do when you arrive at the resort? You take a selfie and send it to all your friends. Now, you don’t have to spend the money trying to make your friends envious. Simply find an instagramable wall in town (there are an abundance of them) snap a shot in front of it and send it to your 5000 Facebook friends. In a very creative campaign Delta and Tinder created a mural of exotic locations around the world. They encouraged passersby’s to take a selfie and use it on their Tinder profile page. C’mon, who doesn’t want to date a jet setter? These two companies showed consumers that they understood their needs.