Van Hage asked us to create a unique and ambitious festive entrance to their in-store Christmas shop, marking them as the go-to festive shopping destination for decorations, gifts, and lights.
The display was to be an activation like no other garden centre had seen before and needed to be super-standout to attract shopper attention, encourage footfall, and entice purchases.
We were given free rein on the creative but asked to make it look as realistic and traditional as possible and use sustainable materials that could be recycled. We were also asked to design the elements so that they would slot-together for installation, ensuring the display could be dismantled, stored, and used again and again.
Due to the scale of this activation, the challenge was in the technical detail, making sure all measurements were perfect to ensure each element would slot together seamlessly.
We came up with the concept of a Christmassy gingerbread house and our in-house designers created the artwork of from scratch, using illustrations and vector shading to create the illusion of depth and texture. We supplied samples of the gingerbread texture and icing effects, which were signed off without any changes.
Using a corrugated cardboard material which is equally strong, robust, and recyclable, we constructed the 7m x 5m x 2.5m festive house in one evening, slotting the structure together like a giant puzzle and used sustainable screws and clamps to provide stability. No tape or glue was used during installation, to ensure the display could be dismantled, stored and reused for future campaigns without damage.
The gingerbread house formed an idyllic entrance to the store’s Christmas shop, whilst also creating the picture-perfect backdrop for customer selfies.
The feedback has been fantastic. Van Hage are thrilled with the activation, shoppers are queuing to take photos and share them online and Christmas trade suppliers have widely shared their admiration on social media.