Canadian Tire marked its 100th birthday by “turning a random residential street in Toronto into a kilometre-long advertisement,” The Toronto Star reports. Almost 50 homeowners on Bastedo Avenue in the city’s east end decorated their lawns with inflatable decorations from garden gnomes to pink flamingoes to celebrate the milestone.
“For the last two years, most interactions that companies have had with people have been virtual,” David Soberman, who teaches marketing at the University of Toronto, explains, “so they’re now wanting to get outside and advertise in the community.” No permits are required for advertising on private property in Toronto. While by-laws limit the scale of marketing installations, enforcement is uneven, especially given the neighbourhood’s goodwill.
