The Revival Room

A Pop-Up Retail Experience

Cadillac Fairview revives the 90’s with Inventa!

Elevating Shopping Into a Memorable Experience

The Challenge

After COVID profoundly altered the retail landscape, Cadillac Fairview searched for new ways to elevate the in-person shopping experience. As one of Canada’s largest retail mall properties, they were looking to rebuild the habit of visiting shopping centres and engage with shoppers through differentiated experiences, impactful promotions and inspirational content.

The Back-To-School season is a major event in the retail calendar that was largely overlooked in 2020 and 2021 due to restrictions in school and campus activity. In 2022, the opportunity to capitalize on this was back, in conjunction with the rush of nostalgia focused towards the 90’s and Y2K. Utilizing vacant retail space within CF Richmond Centre Mall, Inventa was tasked with building an engaging and inspiring pop-up space, centered around themed music, décor and fashion.

Inventa Brings Shoppers Back In Time

The Solution

Inventa led a team of local production and creative partners to create an interactive shopping experience to showcase the latest back-to-school fashion trends inspired by the late 90’s / early 00’s. Built from the ground up, including naming, logo treatments, typefaces, room theming, layouts, hidden ‘Easter Egg’ challenges and integrated product displays, The Revival Room was designed to exhibit various clothing pieces and outfits provided by Cadillac Fairview partner tenants including H&M, The Bay, and Champs to drive guests to the mall and return to in-person shopping.

Acting as a huge interactive “step-into” window display, guests could wander through the various environments, with pieces for purchase nestled between genuine 90’s paraphernalia and tech. This included working VHS’s, telephones and games consoles, layered throughout classic staple rooms stylized as a teenager’s bedroom, parent’s basement and high school hallway, speaking to different archetypes like the athlete and fashionista. Within each room, guests had the chance to participate in various challenges for a chance to win up to $45 in CF Shop! gift cards.

What was meant to be a short back-to-school initiative quickly became a place of nostalgia and entertainment, which led to a program extension in-market to double the length of the placement.