Nordstrom is giving out 10,000 bundles of tulips in Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary, the Canadian cities where the retailer has stores.
The giveaway “is a goodwill gesture to welcome spring and to encourage people to go into the stores,” says Dagi Back, national account executive at Grassroots Advertising in Toronto.
Grassroots, which was brought in to handle Nordstrom’s experiential and guerrilla marketing tactics, is working on the initiative with media planning agency Mindshare.
The tulip giveaway began last week in Ottawa and Vancouver and ends next week in Calgary.
Vancouverites are getting 5,000 bundles of tulips – each of which hold five flowers – while Calgary and Ottawa are getting 2,500 each.
Food trucks have been transformed into flower trucks with Nordstrom branding, which Back says was the client’s idea.
The tulips have hanger tags saying things like “It’s spring at Nordstrom Rideau Centre” and hashtags like #NordstromOtt and #NordstromVan.
Back says many people have taken photos of their flowers and have taken to Twitter to say things like ‘thanks Nordstrom for brightening up my day.”
Teams are handing out 500 bundles a day in high-traffic locations.
Nordstrom made its Canadian debut in Calgary in Sept. 2014, followed by Ottawa last March and Vancouver in Sept. 2015. Two stores are scheduled to open in Toronto this fall.
