Just twelve hours after we’d packed away the red carpet and red velvet ropes that had adorned the entrance to our Launch Party for Archer Dental Little Italy the night before, we returned to 564 College St to participate in the annual Taste of Little Italy street festival.
The Taste of Little Italy is a cultural celebration that transforms College Street from Bathurst to Shaw into an Italian piazza and promenade. Visitors from all across the city, and all across Ontario, come to the area and enjoy seeing and sampling the offerings made by participating shops; many businesses (especially the Italian restaurants and cafes lining College Street) put out specials for customers all along the four block stretch. Much of the cuisine on offer is packaged for mobile consumption. We saw folks munching on roast corn cobs, veal sandwiches, steak burgers, grilled chicken on a bun wrapped in foil, shrimp kabobs and all different types of ice creams. Several people were walking and drinking liquid from half-watermelon bowls.
This annual event brings thousands of people into Little Italy to experience the perks of the neighbourhood, and after the official launch party for Archer Dental Little Italy held the night before, our boutique dental shop was ready to say Hello World, and let everyone know there’s a new dentist on College Street. We were especially keen to meet and greet local Moms and Dads with young families. We knew the best way to do this was to somehow get the kids excited, and so we came up with an interactive challenge that, as you can see below, is very on-brand.
Archer Dental’s #ShootTheTooth Archery Game at 2018 Taste of Little Italy was a Big Hit!
The activity was simple and appealed to young people aged five to fifteen. The game asked participants to pick up a bow & arrow and shoot the tooth that appeared in the ‘sights’ emblazoned on a vinyl sheet under our name and logo. Winners received a free ice cream cup (gift certificate) from the The Big Chill, a classic neighborhood ice cream parlor located right next door to Archer Dental Little Italy and visible in the background of many of these pictures.
All participants walked away with a balloon in one of three primary Italian flag colours – red, white or green.
Let me share with you the story of these two young ladies who are very different sisters. The girl in the pink ball cap (seen above) is very adventurous, and she came right up and asked to be allowed to try the event. Her mother came along afterwards to record it using her phone. Mom was followed by a shy daughter in the white cap who couldn’t be persuaded to try the activity (at first, anyway).
The girl in pink hit the tooth on the very first try, stepping into the shot so the arrow had more power; the suction-cup tipped arrow hit the vinyl tooth target with a whack and even stuck for a second before falling to the ground. The action was followed by lots of cheers and high fives as the young winner was bequeathed her prize: a gift certificate for a free ice cream at The Big Chill.
Minutes later, her sister had come to understand that her shyness had cost her a cone. She wanted the opportunity to shoot the tooth too!
We laughed aloud when both returned, prize in hand, to ask if the sister in white could try playing the game.
Our first foray into event branding wasn’t perfect, either. We learned a lot and will definitely have some new tricks up our sleeves for next year.
The untested Shoot the Tooth game worked well at wrangling crowds, but didn’t really satisfy shooters who soon found they couldn’t make the suction cup arrows stick on the vinyl target. These arrows’ suction cup tips are made of soft plastic and not rubber, so they really only stick to walls with smooth finishes. But we have dreamed up a new activity that we call Shoot the Tooth Mark II. Just wait till you see how it brings new meaning to the term ‘cavity’ (a word which Archer Dental doesn’t use anymore, clinically).
