Photos courtesy Drytac
Last Impression
“Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination,” Willy Wonka famously sang.
Indeed, the world of Wonka recently came to life at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre, thanks to an immersive marketing display created by Global Printing Enterprises (GPE), in collaboration with adhesive product manufacturer Drytac.
The two companies teamed up to craft Wonka’s Sweet Escape, an enchanting experience themed around the new film Wonka, starring Timothee Chalamet as the iconic chocolatier. Complete with vibrant prints, captivating displays, and immersive backdrops, visitors were invited into the whimsical world of Wonka’s candy shop, allowing them to explore and indulge in a series of photo opportunities.
Working closely with Reignite Marketing, who joined forces with Warner Bros Canada and the shopping centre, the team tackled challenges ranging from stringent material requirements to ensuring indoor air-quality standards, attaining an anti-slip certification, and guaranteeing fire compliance. Daniella Pluchino, creative director for Reignite Marketing, designed the immersive experience and built the physical assets in-house at her fabrication studio, DPFX Inc. To meet the needs of the project, GPE used a white polymeric self-adhesive vinyl featuring air-release technology, as well as another self-adhesive vinyl with air-egress technology. Further, a polymeric polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film and a matte white polymeric PVC film were combined with a pressure-sensitive overlaminate film to achieve the desired clarity and enhanced colour definition. Ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers also helped prevent discolouration and degradation of both the film and the adhesive, to extend the durability of the graphics.
A range of prints were created for this experience. Fabricator dpfx.to also provided a vibrant carpet floor graphic measuring 9.75 x 21.3 m (32 x 70 ft), along with a cobblestone path adorned with a towering 10.6-m (35-ft) cherry blossom tree. Additionally, the company supplied oversized mushrooms, flowers, and lollipop displays. Drawbox Design & Fabrication contributed a large Wonka chocolate bar to the display, and large-scale graphics featuring characters from the film were added to complete the scene.
The result? Aptly, a spectacle. From the cherry blossom tree to the mushrooms and lollipops, every detail was crafted to transport visitors into the world of Willy Wonka. This Sweet Escape was not just a marketing display; it brought imagination to life through creativity and innovation. As Willy Wonka would say, “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
With experiential advertising, turning dreams into reality may be as sweet as a golden ticket.
~ Marika Gabriel
