Case Study:
Junction Public Market
Turning a Waterfront Container Market Into One Of Vancouver's Top Summer Destinations.
66M+ total reach
255K+ social media engagements
135 media articles secured
2.5M+ reach from the Exclusive Media Tour
Junction Public Market entered the season with a lot working in its favour: expanded vendors, extended hours at The Sipping Container Bar, Soccer Watch Parties, and a waterfront setting unlike anywhere else in the city. As a PR agency in Vancouver and social media agency working closely with local food and lifestyle brands, Hacker Communications built a compressed, high-impact campaign that could turn those assets into real visibility, and do it in a fraction of the time the market had used the year before.
The goal was to build buzz ahead of opening day, get Junction in front of new audiences across Metro Vancouver, and give vendors a real lift, all inside a one-month runway versus the five months allotted the previous season.
Junction's shipping container layout and waterfront location made it naturally photogenic and easy to pitch, but the market hadn't yet been positioned as a destination in its own right. Our PR strategy and social media strategy was a chance to change that: to move Junction from "neighbourhood event" to "place people plan their weekend around," using earned media, digital PR, and creator content people would actually want to share.
The Opportunity
The Strategy
As a public relations agency in Vancouver with hands-on experience in restaurant and event marketing, we built a fast-moving PR and creator program designed to work harder in a shorter window:
Anticipation-Building PR Outreach
Pitched local and regional press, event listings, cruise lines, and hotel concierge teams ahead of opening day to get Junction on people's radar before it opened its doors, a core part of how we approach event marketing in Vancouver.
A Hosted Media & Creator Experience
Brought 20+ creators and media contacts, including Vancouver Magazine, onto the market floor for a guided visit designed to produce real-time recaps, reels, and stories, drawing on our work as an influencer marketing agency in Vancouver.
Earned Coverage Across Vancouver's Top Outlets
Landed placements with CTV News, Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Is Awesome, Curiocity, Daily Hive, 604 Now, North Shore News, The Georgia Straight, Miss604, NOMS Mag, Do604, and Anywhere News.
Experience-Led Content
We used a media tour experience to earn organic posts, with giveaways and gift cards that acted as a second wave of engagement on top of the initial coverage.
A Faster Campaign With a Bigger Payoff
We ran the entire PR campaign in one month, down from five the prior year, while still growing earned media reach by 28% and ad value by 38.5% year over year.
Hacker Communications is a lifestyle PR agency serving brands across Canada, with dedicated teams operating as a PR agency in Vancouver and a PR agency in Toronto, and campaign work extending into Calgary and Montreal. As a digital PR agency in Canada, we pair traditional media relations with social media strategy and influencer partnerships to help food, hospitality, and event brands build lasting visibility.
