
The Clorox-owned Burt’s Bees brand is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an activation that highlights the company’s sustainability efforts.
The “BURThday Bash Pop-up” – which was set up on Queen Street West in Toronto last week – featured a demonstration of how the brand’s lip balms are made, as well as information on the scientists and chemists behind the company’s formulas.
The activation also included take-home products and cupcakes to celebrate the anniversary. It was supported by OOH ads located at the store’s entrance to capture the attention of walkers, as well as creative on Burt’s Bees social channels.
OMD handled media buying, while Devon Communications was in charge of the creative.
“We wanted consumers to leave with a deeper understanding of our sustainability efforts and the true science that goes into our formulations, while featuring a wide range of lip and face care products to drive awareness of the categories we play in,” Clorox Canada VP of marketing Chris Budinszky tells MiC.
“In the pop-up event, we showcased how the brand is both based in nature and backed by science, a dichotomy of what sets us apart from the rest of the category,” he adds.

Budinszky says that while the brand hasn’t done a pop-up in a while, activations like this are an ideal way to interact with its target audience Gen Z, who are looking for sustainable products and are an influential cohort that drives trends in the lip and facial care categories.
The activation was also able to showcase the brand’s new creative direction, according to Budinszky.
“For the last two years we have been on a journey of evolving and modernizing the look and feel of the brand in our marketing activities,” he says. “The pop-up was a great way to continue to showcase both the heritage and science through our new creative direction in an experiential platform.”
Burt’s Bees will potentially launch the activation in additional stores outside of Toronto in the coming months.