‘Tis The Season

Our Solution

Spreading Holiday Cheer

As the Vancouver Christmas Market is already a staple of the Vancouver community, our main objective was to turn it into a holiday spectacle through its branding, visitor experience, social presence, and website experience. To do so, we needed to increase awareness of the Market in the Greater Vancouver Area through a targeted mix of print, radio, TV, digital, and out-of-home marketing channels.

Naturally, we believed that the key to bringing attention to the Market was to drive online time slot ticket sales through paid online media. With an emphasis on creating exciting visuals tailored for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, we could connect with multiple demographics. Through an integrated PR and media buying strategy, the Market featured on several platforms, including Global TV, Daily Hive, Georgia Straight, Z95.3, 104.3 The Breeze, Move 103.5 Vancouver, and Vancouver Is Awesome, among others.

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit

We believed that the Market had a significant opportunity to reinvent itself on social media. Our strategy revolved around highlighting the beautiful moments of the Market, both day and night. So, improving the production value of Market content through improved in-house photography, video, and content creation became essential. Assembling a consistent brand presence became imperative to our goal. We implemented a supplementary brand toolkit into digital, print, and out-of-home advertising, our online presence, and at the Market. Additionally, integrating Market vendors into our strategy was a highlight in engaging our audience.

We used social media to showcase the Market’s food, drink, activities, and key messaging, generating significant exposure. Leading up to the Market’s return, we crafted a three-phase strategy to capitalize on consumer hype:

1. During the pre-market phase, our goal was to build hype for the Market and generate ticket sales through teasers and sneak peeks, informative posts, plus sales and promotions for holidays and engagement contests.
2. During our market lead-up and opening phase, our goal was to show people why they should return to the Market and drive sales before the Christmas season, showcasing the Market’s special features and new aspects while highlighting the visitors’ experience.
3. During our in-market phase, our goal was to frequently post various content on all channels to generate excitement and capitalize on Christmas hype to drive traffic to the Market.
4. Our mid-market strategy involved daily sharing of user-generated content, frequent on-site posting, an active presence on Twitter, and leveraging social media to communicate key messages for promotions and special events.