PATIO VANCOUVER

The year 2020 was a rough one for many but especially the restaurant industry. As Summer 2021 neared, the Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) of Vancouver wanted a campaign to encourage people to head to patios to enjoy food, drinks, views and sun while supporting their local restaurants. The campaign was planned in a two part series over the months of June and July. June would be to bring awareness and create engagement of the patios and July would be to encourage visits. I, along with the project lead Jane McFadden, executive director of the Shop West 4th BIA, created these deliverables to promote the plan for both months:

BRANDING - Before starting on deliverables, we first needed to come up with a brand for the campaign. We wanted to capture a large audience and something that evoked summer, patio vibes. The final branding used seasonal tones such as terra cotta, golden yellow and pretty pinks and greens. The shapes were mostly domes or soft edged to give a casual, relaxed feel which went well with a slightly more sophisticated type. To finish it off, I created a terrazzo tile pattern that mimicked a patio floor surface and used summer-focussed icons and graphics such as flowers, fruits and various cocktails.

I incorporated a dome shape which an image could sit in with descriptor text surround to feature the many patios. These, along with the full branding package, was sent out to the participating BIAs so they could also promote the campaign and design graphics that worked with their specific branding, website and social pages.

PATIO MAP - With the help from each BIA, we contacted hundreds of patios asking for information about their patio and photos. From there, I took all the information and created two maps: one an online custom Google map and the other a downloadable and printable PDF version. There ended up being over 400 patios featured - including categories of patios that are pet friendly, take reservations, are open in all weather and heated/covered which you could toggle on and off on the online map. This map has already been a huge success with over 42,000 views and many comments of ‘I’m going to live in this map this summer’!

DAILY VOTING - To bring awareness of each patio and neighbourhood, I created a daily voting platform via Instagram Stories. Each day of June 2021 participants could log on to Instagram, head to the @patiovancouver account and vote for a chance to win prizes, sponsored by Phillips Brewing. There would multiple categories such as ‘Best Pet Friendly Patio’ or ‘Best Patio for Brunch’ and ‘Best Patio in Gastown’ as well as this or that poll options to narrow down the best neighbourhood for patios.

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT - In addition to the daily voting, I also created daily social media graphics to go out to the public. Some we to list patios of specific neighbouhoods and others were sponsor thank you’s. The full account can be viewed here.

AD DESIGN - There were multiple media sponsors and partners who helped make this campaign happen. We created a series of ads, both digital and printed, to help aid each article and thank the sponsors for supporting Vancouver patios. In addition, I also created coasters to to be used at patios and sidewalk decals with QR codes to help drive traffic to the map and voting.