To celebrate its 25th anniversary in Canada in style, Future Shop collaborated with guerrilla marketing agency Smak for a fun initiative that began late last week and will run until Oct. 29. Creative was done in-house, while Toronto-based The Media Company handled media buys.

Just one campaign component is subway domination at Toronto’s Queen station, where practically every element that could possibly be wrapped was plastered with Future Shop messaging. The campaign also includes TV ads, corporate flyers and in-store signage. Online, there’s an interactive ‘Match and Win’ contest with daily random prizing and a $2,500 gift card as the grand prize. Also at www.futureshop.ca, customers can check out ’25 Days of Deals’ promotions and watch an official anniversary video.

In-store, a ‘Then and Now’ showcase event took place in Coquitlam and Burnaby, BC, as well as Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. Future Shop partnered with the free daily 24 hours to promote the event in the four cities, and hosted a radio remote in-store in Vancouver and Toronto to invite listeners to the events.

Inside each participating Future Shop, vintage gizmos were pitted against the latest technology. An original Nintendo competed with an Xbox Halo edition; a VCR compared with a Sony Blu Ray Disc player; and an 80s boombox was paired with a Samsung 5 disc home theatre surround sound system. In each of the four cities, a home theatre package valued at $5,000 was given away.

Future Shop spokesperson Cheryl Grant tells MiC the chain is very pleased with the response so far. ‘Younger kids were amused by the graphics and simplicity of early gaming, and it was a fun walk down memory lane for the older kids.’