53 Degrees North
We created Ireland’s first Adventure Festival
53 Degrees North are an established apparel and equipment retailer for adventure sport and outdoor enthusiasts. The brand is loved by people who love the outdoors. We were tasked with creating a plan to reach out to a wider customer base who are not as hard core about outdoor adventures but would be a natural casual customer for the brand both in the retail stores and online.
We were tasked with creating an immersive experience to engage Ireland’s casual outdoor adventurers and the diehard enthusiasts too. The experience had to foster a bond with this niche community and unite like-minded individuals to share an experience that would amplify the brand.
The Remarkable Experience
We married the brands outdoor DNA with the global credentials of Columbia, an iconic outdoor brand with 80 years heritage in adventure. We created ‘The 53 Degrees North Adventure Festival’, to leverage Ireland’s love of festival culture and the great outdoors by putting on a weekend long event that offered a mix of traditional and niche outdoor activities.
Attraction
We built excitement for the festival with a series of online content and competitions that engaged the target audience and built an audience for the further event specific communication. We managed all owned channels and developed a digital strategy that drove reach to our wider audience.
Live
Designing a two-tiered approach to build surprise and deliver an extraordinary adventure experience. We created a full festival experience that offered something for over 2000 guests, who could take part in hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, archery and axe throwing during the day and then return to 5 stalls of hot food, cold beer and stories around the campfire. The site offered over 60 amenities across food, entertainment tents and activities like bushcraft, slacklining and orienteering. Morning beach yoga was followed by food demos before people went on to hike, water- ski, bike or trail run. A team of 40 were assembled in total. We located the greenfield site in Blessington, carried out feasibility testing and led all the health and safety requirements. The festival footprint stretched over 5000sqm to deliver an unforgettable adventure experience.
Amplification
We worked with several influencers and key media partners throughout the live experience to ensure we generated maximum exposure for 53 Degrees North throughout the campaign. We produced all video content on site and delivered across owned and paid channels. The video series exceeded all expectations and drove huge return for the brand.
The Impact
We had 2000 delighted and fully immersed guests onsite who developed an affinity for the 53 Degrees North brand. The structured digital media campaign delivered increase in database numbers and commercially delivered sales figures across both physical and digital retail stores.
“The strategy, creative and implementation for this event was spot on from the team. Every detail of the festival reflected our own brand values and vision, creating a truly memorable experience for our customers. It was a pleasure working with the team to create this festival”
+WINNING
We picked up two IMC European Awards for the activation including Gold for Best Experiential.
