LOOK at 20 Years.

Top Ten +one Projects of a Two-Decade Young Marketing Agency. 

By founder Tim McKercher

On February 1, 2005, I left the corporate world to embark on the journey of building a marketing agency. The wild part is I never worked for an agency. I was always the client. So for the past 20 years, I’ve directed our team of spark plugs to work the way I would want an agency to work for me as a client. And it seems to be working.

According to the US Bureau of Labor statistics, only 21% of businesses make it to their 20th anniversary. That means we’ve outlasted 79% of those who set out on a similar path – proof that we’ve consistently delivered value to the brands we’ve served. Over 20 years, LOOK Marketing has led or supported countless impactful, brand-building projects. While there are too many to count, we do have our favorites. Here are our Top Ten +one projects from the past 20 years. It was going to be ten, and I kept remembering good ones. 

This top eleven list has a wide variety of criteria. Many made massive positive impacts for the brands and won major industry awards. Some were purely ‘solid,’ yet required our team of spark plugs to overcome major obstacles, and some were driven by pure pride and passion, and more than a handful were simply fun to do. 

Here we go, LOOK Marketings TOP TEN +one projects from the past 20 years – not necessarily in the order of love for them, except number 1, that’s the clear number 1.

1. Sea-Doo Spark Watercraft Launch

This was special as LOOK was intricately involved in this industry paradigm shifting product launch from A-Z.  Our efforts included, focus group support, a video series telling the story of how it came to life, the launch video, “Color Me” our favorite SFX (no CGI) video we’ve done. Followed by the ‘Sea-Doo Ignition Press Event’ that included water cannons and performance painter David Garibaldi, an event that generated over 1 billion media impressions.  We also curated the ‘mau5 riders’ our on-water guerilla marketing team dawning EDM icon Deadmau5 heads while riding five SPARKS in formation around Miami for a week leading up to the Deadmau5 Spark Some Fun concert at the famous Fountain Bleu.  

LOOK also played a key role in the go-to-market strategy by producing additional video content with Devin Supertramp, executing a nationwide 36-stop test ride tour, and overseeing all social media efforts for the brand. This launch was the result of hundreds of BRP team members working together and we’re proud to have contributed to an effort that has since become a benchmark for executing a successful, large-scale product launch. # Win

2. Club BRP – Spyder F3 Dealer Meeting Showroom Design –

Michele Chenard is the co-founder of LOOK and leads our merchandising design efforts. Designing a 30,000 sq/ft showroom to launch the new Can-Am Spyder F3 three-wheel vehicle to the BRP dealer network ranks near the top of her favorite projects. Working closely with show company Upstaging our design team created the LOOK and feel through strategic layout and fixture and display design. The strategic visual displays and soft goods planogram provided a very strong brand presence, leading to a successful initial product order from the network. #Win

3. The Can-Am Experience Tour

Events hae been one of our cores for 20 years and In 2020, we activated our biggest consumer experiential event project up to that date. Our mandate was to develop, manage, and execute 187 individual, 3.5-day, grassroots style dealership-based test ride events to launch the new Can-Am Spyder RT three-wheel vehicle.  The program included 10 teams of two specialists, driving 10 trucks and trailers to every corner of the US. This was 2020. Remember what happen that year? We were 17 events into our tour when the work stopped. Covid. 

The event marketing world stopped cold. Although the recreational product business boomed and nine-months later, BRP made the bold move to move forward with the tour in 2021. People wanted to try these machines more than ever. Our program was small with no more than five people on-site at any time, so we moved forward, with an incredibly extensive sanitization plan and we produced 212 Can-Am experience events that year with a 19% conversion rate and not one of our staff contracting covid. #Win. 

4. The Science of Fun, Sea-Doo 300hp X-Model Launch Videos

If it isn’t obvious, I love story telling. And I’ve been telling Sea-Doo’s story for 35 years, with the past 20 years through LOOK. No product is brought to market without a lot of vested people. Every one of them adding to the story. In the case of product development at Sea-Doo that includes people from Canada, the US, and Austria, all coming together to develop the next level of watercraft performance. As passionate boaters and mechanically curious people, this project allowed us to tell the story of the challenges these teams overcame and the triumphs they built upon to bring the next level of class-leading performance watercraft to market. #Win

5. BMW Motorrad Dealer Environment Guidebook

The BMW Motorrad brand mandates their dealer network to provide a consistent, premium brand presence in their showrooms. Recognizing LOOK’s reputation for premium merchandising services in the powersports industry, BMW Motorrad US enlisted our merchandising design experts to develop a comprehensive guidebook to help dealers effectively merchandise both hard and soft goods. This guide provided strategic insights into the science of retail merchandising, along with high-quality photography, layout design, and production—all crafted to elevate the in-store brand experience for BRM Motorrad dealership visitors. #Win

6. It’s Like That – 2011 IJSBA World Watercraft Racing Championship

It’s Like That – 2011 IJSBA World Watercraft Racing Championship – Managing partnerships for the Sea-Doo brand included managing the race program, both on the track and the promotional efforts around it. For too many years a competitor of Sea-Doo dominated the Pro watercraft racing championships. And as a fifth of the industry sales come from the performance segment, winning leads to sales. 

Knowing this, the BRP design and innovation team developed a new performance model that changed everything regarding going faster around a racetrack.  We helped build a strategic plan to have the best up and coming Sea-Doo racer and the best mechanic to have access to these revolutionary designs and technology in hope of winning the World Championship a few weeks after the product launch. 

An aggressive communications plan was also developed in parallel to leverage the championship, should we win. Pro Racer James Bushell won, and Sea-Doo won, and the Sea-Doo RXP-X filled every starting line at every race for the next three years. 

NOTE, this was only possible because of the passionate and competitive leadership of Sea-Doo marketing pros, Adrien de Alexandris and Julie Tourville. You can only do amazing work for people who are committed to doing amazing work.  #Win

7. BETA Max Hoist Rebrand

8. BRP Photo Shoots over 20 years

We can’t pick one. So many over the past 20 years have been so memorable and the imagery from our shoots have been seen by millions of people around the world. Our team has produced countless photo and video shoots for the Ski-Doo snowmobile, Can-Am of-road and on-road, Sea-Doo watercraft and boat brands, Scarab boats, Space Coast restaurants, various aftermarket motorcycle and marine part companies, and more. Some productions were just that, our team producing, with others including A-Z services such as, creative, casting, scouting, scripting, directing, shooting, talent, post-production, and distribution.  #Wins

9. Press Events

This is a service we became renown for in the marine industry. Our Sea-Doo press events have been often noted by marine press as ‘the best’ in the biz. We perfected the formula as we have had brand teams that trusted us to create the ultimate ‘made-for-media’ events that strategically integrate those products key messages and driving home key innovation an advancement in natural ways. 

“The Hunt” was one of our favorites and biggest production.

2007 “The Hunt” – Journalist were invited with a message in a bottle wrapped in palm fronds delivered in a clearly weathered box (think Cast Away FedEx boxes). They were invited to join us in Key West to help us find the new Sea-Doo models that Yellow-Beard the Pirate has stolen. Media joined us on a hunt beginning on the tallest mast ship in Key West that was attacked by Sea-Doo riding Pirates. They were then put into teams and followed a treasure map finding/discovering a new Sea-Doo model at every stop, all ending at “X” on the map where a treasure chest was unburied and opened with the ‘treasure’ being the model year press kits.    

 10. So Much More Than Donuts – BRP Dealer Meeting Demo Site

The BRP dealer meetings bring in 2500 dealership owners and staff from around the world to see the new year models. This event is where they determine what they are going to order, fueling the $1billion Sea-Doo watercraft business. In 2019 the event took place in Las Vegas and LOOK was tasked to provide a Sea-Doo test ride experience for 1856 dealer staff aboard the new Sea-Doo GTI watercraft. And prove this watercraft is so much more than donuts. We rented out Lake Las Vegas, yes, the entire lake, and designed two on-water experienced based out of the beautiful Lake Las Vegas Country Club. Integrating the hero model creative direction of “donuts,” as every guest arrived, they were treated to a delicious strawberry sprinkle donut from our Doo-Nut truck. Sunshine and 85-degrees helped the experience too. #Win

11. Adrenaline Sports – Dealership Merchandising Design

While LOOK merchandising spark plugs have helped transform hundreds of retail spaces, one stands out for co-founder Michele Chenard. Native of Charlesbourg, QC, her team was offered the opportunity to design a brand-new dealership building in her hometown of Quebec City.  From concept to execution, to grand opening the Adrenaline Sports showroom is one of LOOK’s case study dealership showroom designs. #Win

There are doens upon dozens of projects that could have made this list. Each memorable for different reasons.

Thank you to our all of our clients over the past 20 years, specifically BRP.

Cheers to 20 years of wins, some loses, wows, and the daily grind. #lookatus