Combining ice cream and facials seems like an unlikely duo, but Glowbar turned it into a sweet deal for its first activation in Philadelphia. New to the city, Glowbar sought to drive awareness of the brand and the skincare services and facial treatments available at its recently opened locations in Philly’s Rittenhouse Square and Bryn Mawr, PA, with an attention-grabbing pop-up.
And the branded ice cream truck delivered, with Kate Citron, senior director-marketing at Glowbar, calling it the perfect mobile billboard to amplify the brand among passersby who could score free Glowbar goodies, $30 gift cards, samples from EltaMD and, of course, soft serve ice cream.
With Glowbar looking to pop up in Philly before fall blew in, as locals were back in the city from summer vacations, the Sept. 8 pop-up came together quickly and all in-house in about two months. The brand had sourced proposals from agencies, but found that the quotes were beyond the team’s budget expectations, especially for a first go at an experiential activation, Citron says, so the team made a plan to develop the project themselves.
“Fortunately, we have a very scrappy and resourceful team by nature, and so it was actually really fun to get to flex some of those muscles to make this happen,” she says.
The first step in the process was researching and finding an ice cream truck business to partner with, and Mister Softee Philadelphia fit the bill. Then, an established relationship with EltaMD, one of the brand’s select retail partners, pushed the activation’s progress forward.
“EltaMD has an in-house creative team, which we do not, that was able to concept and design the wrap that was applied over the truck that ended up being a really fun and beautiful fusion of the EltaMD and Glowbar brands with a lot of bright colors and a strong call to action,” Citron says. “They also gave us 500 full-size UV Sticks to hand out, which people really love, and a side benefit is that I think EltaMD also lent us a little bit of credibility since Glowbar is newer to Philly. It ended up being a nice conversation starter about skincare and what Glowbar offers.”
Glowbar worked with a third party for the printing and installation of the red-striped wrap on the Mister Softee truck that included logos, large images of the EltaMD UV Stick and “Grab a free scoop of skincare” messaging. The brand designed all of the distributed collateral in-house and staffed the event with its own team members rather than hiring external brand ambassadors. That meant planning the team’s travel and logistics, and managing the activation’s day-of setup and breakdown in partnership with staffers from the nearby Glowbar Rittenhouse Square Studio.
“I think the best part of doing this ourselves was getting to experience so many direct one-to-one interactions with potential Glowbar members. That’s really rare in other marketing channels,” Citron says. “I also believe that a brand’s best ambassadors are often internal. Each of us is getting regular Glowbar facials. We are spending a lot of time with our amazing education and training teams, and so we’re really fluent in the language of skincare and what’s included in that 30-minute facial.”
Originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7, the pop-up date was shifted to Sunday because of a rainy forecast, and the team lucked out by not only having sunny weather, but also coinciding with the first Open Streets Sunday in Philadelphia, which blocks cars from entering the roadways, allowing free roaming of Rittenhouse Square and surrounding areas. The pop-up benefited from the increased foot traffic, welcoming close to 1,000 consumers over four hours, and Citron says Glowbar gave away 500 gift cards and 500 coupons, as well as 500 EltaMD UV Sticks and 500 SPF samples.
“We’re now seeing those gift card and promo code redemptions trickle in, which is really exciting. Appointments driven is the No. 1 most important metric for us, and something we’re going to be looking at closely through the end of the year to evaluate the success of this activation,” she says. “Hopefully, all of that will inform future activations for 2025 and some of our new openings then, too.” Agency: In-house.
