Wow! Beginning on Friday, Canada will be into its 150th year! In 367 days or so, we are officially 150. There will be a lot of parties, festivals, and events! But please don’t forget, don’t let it get buried in the 150 celebrations—it will also be the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge—the WWI battle that took Canada into adulthood—the battle and victory that made the rest of the forces around the world stand up and take notice of Canada. We were no longer Britain’s little colony. We were a force to be reckoned with. This is truly another reason to celebrate right through to 2017!
What does this have to do with sponsorship? A lot! There will be millions of dollars invested in Canada 150 and Vimy 100 programs. Much of this is already in place, but a great deal is not, especially the activation programs. One of the big showcase partnerships and celebrations is the CIBC partnership with the City of Ottawa. This is an incredible partnership celebrating Canada’s 150th in the nation’s capital, but also CIBC’s 150th. Watch this one. It will be as fantastic and well executed as the CIBC investment with the Toronto Pan Am Games in 2015.
Another terrific product for alignment and opportunity from a national brand perspective as well as local brands is Innovation 150 a showcase of festivals, exhibits, coast to coast engagement, as well as online and digital with Canada’s leading innovation institutes, Canada’s technology museums, science centres, and school programs—all showcasing innovation, history, and the future in Canada. In my mind, Innovation 150 is unique as it allows companies that are innovation leaders in their fields to align with this showcase property and leading Canadian research institutions such as the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics and the Institute of Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo. Also, it will be able to deliver B2C and B2B programs, traffic driving, reaching key demographic markets through innovative digital, onsite, and activation.
These two examples of 150 programming are leaders, but they are not alone. Many companies are building their own programs through Canada 150, while many properties are integrating 150 into their annual programs and events. The key is that there will be some outstanding Canada 150 sponsorships with some pretty incredible programs and properties—but there will be a lot of clutter as well.
As we enter Canada’s 150th year, now is the time to ensure that you are aligning your brand with a program that can differentiate you and your brand. I noticed recently that Promotional Resource Group (PRG) is an official brand developer on merchandise for Canada 150 that can assist municipalities, properties, and brands with branded merchandise around Canada 150. This type of creativity is essential and needs to be built into activation programs.
Properties need to be innovative and creative so as not to be “just another Canada Day celebration on July 1, 2017 that says 150 on it.” Now is the time to plan to make this different, versus just masking an existing event with a Canada 150 theme. This is an opportunity for celebration, innovation, and creativity, and a chance to break through what will be a very cluttered marketplace around Canada 150 very, very soon!
© 2016. All rights reserved.