Holt Renfrew Taps Mint as Experiential Partner

Holt Renfrew made experiential a priority this holiday season and partnered with Mint to design and implement an immersive national pop-up newsstand to highlight and distribute their holiday magazine. 

Holt Renfrew identified an opportunity to establish a connection with a previously untapped market in Canada - new consumers. To make meaningful connections with them, the heritage brand recognised an opening to emphasise culture and community in new and meaningful ways. This was first articulated through the re-launch of their holiday magazine, which chose to spotlight various community and cultural leaders across food, fashion, and art, including Michael Nyarkoh of the Ace Hotel, cultural critic and writer Marlowe Granada (Toronto), and restauranteurs Marc-Olivier Frappier and Jessica Noel of Mon Lapin (Montreal). 

Holt Renfrew came to Mint to close this culture gap in an experiential way. Mint is an agency that puts creativity first - and did so by reimagining festive design in a modern way that connects to an audience who praises aesthetic forward thinking. 

A play on the traditional newsstand, Mint created a high-design magenta pop-up that unexpectedly met their new audience where they are – in trendy, urban spaces nationwide. As the holiday magazine reflects local communities, so too do the pop-ups, which featured a surprise and delight from local partners from Nile Coffee, and macarons in the signature Holt Renfrew bear shape from Daan Go in Toronto.

The national program kicked off in Toronto and hit four major markets across the country. Over the course of 15 days, over 30,000 magazines were handed out, garnering over 25,000 impressions for Holt Renfrew in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver.