Nerds wanted to meet younger consumers where they gather. They needed an experience that felt fun, fast, and easy to join. They also needed a way to move across the country without slowing down.
The result was an activation built for real behaviour. Quick to set up. Simple to run. Designed to fit into busy spaces and high-traffic moments. Every part of the tour focused on one goal: create meaningful interaction through play, sampling, and genuine human connection.
The Nerds Gummy Clusters Arcade Tour started with a clear objective. Nerds wanted an experience that would stop people in their tracks and keep them engaged long enough to create a moment worth talking about. The challenge was building something that could travel easily across provinces while still delivering a high-impact footprint.
The solution involved two purpose-built assets. The first was the Arcade Trailer, a 25-foot mobile arcade that opened into a two-level gaming space with retro consoles, a massive video wall, and a stocked sampling station that included the new Berry flavour. The trailer was designed for crowd flow, visibility, and fast interaction, making it easy for teams to run high-volume sampling at every stop.
A Nerds brand ambassador smiles while holding handfuls of Gummy Clusters samples, personifying the high-energy moments of the Arcade Tour.
The second asset was the Nerdcycle Sampling Bike. Many top events and attractions could not accommodate a large build, so the team needed a way to reach those spaces without sacrificing impact. The bike provided that flexibility. It rolled into concerts, sporting events, and neighbourhood festivals, giving staff the ability to meet consumers at street level and share samples in places the trailer could not access.
This combination of scale and mobility allowed the tour to function in almost any environment. It also created a steady rhythm of interaction, from busy midways to casual crowds gathered on sidewalks.
Little ones play retro arcade games under our bright Nerds branding, surrounded by Gummy Clusters samples at the Arcade Tour.
Across 3 months and 46 activation days, the tour appeared at major festivals including Sound of Music, Calgary Stampede, K-Days, CNE, Fan Expo, and Jackalope. The Arcade Trailer ran for 15 weeks at 6 large events and delivered more than 1 million samples. The Nerdcycle operated for 11 weeks and added nearly 300,000 samples across 28 separate locations.
In total, the tour shared 1.3 million samples and reached more than 6.6 million consumers through in-person touchpoints and social amplification.
Nerds ambassadors, decked out in Nerds swag, hand out Gummy Clusters samples with fans gathering around.
The Nerds Gummy Clusters Arcade Tour worked because it put people first. It combined play, movement, and sampling in a way that felt natural in every setting. It was efficient for teams, enjoyable for crowds, and built to deliver strong results without slowing down.
A bright idea became a practical, well-executed program that connected a brand with its audience in the places they already love to be.
Want to learn more about Mobile Tours?
Will Kozma
Vice President, Business Development
Influence Marketing
wkozma@influencemarketing.ca
