Sophisticated fashionstories built for retail success
As one of Winnipeg’s most iconic retail destinations, Polo Park has long held a central place in the city’s shopping culture. At the onset of our engagement, I was conscious of the centre’s deep roots—Winnipeg’s first mall, home to 200 shops, and a fixture since 1959—and committed to delivering work that felt elevated, smart, and creatively confident. Each campaign needed to honour that legacy while helping build the brand’s future in a shifting retail landscape.
Over a five-year period, we developed the visual identity and two major integrated campaigns that helped Polo Park retain its leadership through growing competition, changing shopper habits, and a $30M renovation and expansion. Our approach combined broad media reach with fashion-focused visual storytelling—rooted in style, built with intention, and aligned with the centre’s business goals. From start to finish, the work remained attuned to its primary audience: women aged 25–44.
Bringing It All Together
Challenge: With growing pressure from Big Box developments and other retail competitors, Polo Park needed to strengthen its emotional connection with shoppers. The challenge wasn’t just standing out in a crowded market—it was reinforcing its role as the most complete, reliable shopping destination in the city—while still acknowledging the competing demands and desires shoppers faced every day.
Solution: This campaign leaned into dualities— pairing the practical with the aspirational, the everyday with the expressive. Visually, it used tightly composed side-by-side imagery to reconcile these tensions in a way that was both arresting and artful.
Phase One featured unexpected visual pairings unified by form, colour, or design. A clothing iron completes a high-heeled boot. A chocolate drizzles into a diamond ring. Each pairing was a metaphor for the way Polo Park helped customers balance function and desire—making space for both.
Phase Two built on this format using negative space to heighten the concept. This time, a shape was cut from one image and reimagined on the other side of the frame. A leather armchair with the shape of boots cut from its cushion, became real boots. A round cut-out in a shirt became a striped plate. The executions varied, but the idea remained: this is a place where all the pieces of your life can come together, beautifully.
Executed across outdoor, transit, print, radio, and formats like grocery checkout lanes, the campaign resonated strongly with its target. Holiday and seasonal rotations kept it fresh, while survey results confirmed its impact on perception and traffic.
Results:
• Campaign recall: 76% among the target audience, with 54% unaided
• Favorable impression: 88% of respondents
• Increase in shopping interest: +16%
• Holiday shopping at Polo Park: 39%
• Representation increases:
– Adults 25–44: +23%
– Incomes $50K+: +14.5%
• Spending increases:
– Average spend: +3.4%
– High spenders: +8.1%
• Sales productivity: Grew to $566/sq ft (+2%)
• Awards: 6 Signature Awards from the Advertising Association of Winnipeg
ClientPolo Park ProjectBringing It All Together Campaign Year2004-2006
“This successful campaign celebrated the style and energy of the modern woman, reflecting both her practicality and her passion for fashion.”
- Sandra Hagenaars, Director of Marketing, Polo Park Shopping Centre
Turn What You WantInto What You’re Wearing
Challenge: As Polo Park prepared to undergo a $30M expansion and renovation, the task was to maintain shopper enthusiasm through the disruption while reinforcing the centre’s relevance. It wasn’t enough to explain what was coming—we had to celebrate what was already there. The campaign needed to remind customers that Polo Park was still the best place in the region to find what they wanted, even during transition.
Solution: We leaned into the fashion-forward confidence already present in the brand. Each execution featured a silhouetted female figure made entirely from brand names found in the mall, with real fashion items—boots, a yoga outfit, a gym bag—added as visual highlights. The tagline, “Turn what you want into what you’re wearing,” positioned Polo Park as the place where inspiration and purchase converged.
Each silhouette was styled to reflect the season—Fall fashion, Holiday jewelry, Spring activewear—underscoring the centre’s ability to meet evolving shopper needs. The modular nature of the campaign made it ideal for multiple executions across billboards, transit, print, digital, and signage.
Results:
• Favorable impression: 44% “very favorable,” 55% favorable overall
• Holiday shopping at Polo Park: 41% (vs. 17% for next competitor)
• Advertising awareness: 68% (vs. 52% for next competitor)
• Foot traffic: +1% despite construction
• Website stats:
– Visits: 12,500/month
– Pageviews: 170,000/month
• Sales productivity: +1.6% increase during campaign
ClientPolo Park ProjectTurn What You Want Into What You’re Wearing Campaign Year2006-2007
