3 minute read
October 15, 2026
How We Created a Food Festival from Scratch
The Problem: Calgary was missing a hot dog festival
As a team who is heavily involved in Calgary’s culinary scene and big fans of the city’s various food festivals, we noticed a glaring gap in offerings: Calgary didn’t have a festival celebrating the humble hot dog, so we decided to create our own.
The Goal: Support local restaurants and raise funds for a local charity
We wanted to create a festival that would not only lend our agency’s expertise to drive sales for local businesses, but also raise funds for a local charity. We quickly landed on the Pet Access League Society (PALS), an organization that provides pet therapy visits throughout the city to children, seniors, hospitals, libraries and more.
In our inaugural year we set three goals:
Recruit 20 restaurants to participate
Secure four media hits
Raise $1,000 for PALS
The Work: How the sausage was made
STEP ONE: Build a brand people could get behind
Our first step was to build a brand that could live on its own, without our agency’s name tag on it. We knew we wanted something nostalgic and playful that would capitalize on the current popularity of hot dogs online and in the broader culture. Our design team collaborated to incorporate classic hot dog colours — ketchup, mustard, relish and buns — into a punchy logo and wiener dog icon. We decided on a tone of voice that would be irreverent but never rude, allowing us to lean into jokes but always remain (fairly) professional.
Next, we built a website and began recruiting restaurants. How many hot dog restaurants could Calgary possibly have? As it turns out — several, but we were pleasantly surprised when restaurants of all shapes and sizes joined in, from classic hot dog stands to pizza joints, upscale bistros and even an ice cream parlour. An interactive map allowed Calgarians to easily search for Dog Days hot dogs in their area.
STEP TWO: Create buzz and generate awareness
Content creation and digital marketing focused on building festival awareness, giving Calgarians a reason to participate, and amplifying visibility for local restaurants. Our content and design teams worked together to bring the brand to life on Instagram, creating engaging reels and shareable memes.
To generate buzz, our communications team rolled out a traditional announcement strategy, bolstered by support from longstanding local media relationships. We secured print, digital, TV and radio spots, local content creators supported the festival by sharing their Dog Days experiences online, and AMP Radio signed on as the festival’s official media sponsor.
STEP THREE: Bring the festival to life
Dog Days ran from May 23 to June 6, 2026, hitting the sweet spot of the earliest days of summer weather in Calgary; perfect hot dog-eating weather. To kick off the festival, we worked with dog-friendly Cold Garden Brewing to host a party, complete with plenty of hot dogs, pints and PALS dogs and volunteers on-site. Branded giveaways helped carry the festival’s identity into the event while sharing key details with attendees.
The Results: Left us speechless
Dog Days 2026 exceeded every goal we set. The festival was hugely successful, driving foot traffic and sales to local restaurants, generating awareness and donation dollars for our charity partner, and seeing Calgarians engaging online and hitting the streets to experience all of the unique hot dogs in person.
In the end, 54 restaurants participated — triple the amount we hoped would register, each donating $1 from the sale of every Dog Days hot dog
We landed 153 media hits and reached over 14 million people through outreach efforts
$14,320 was raised in support of PALS — a number we couldn’t have imagined for the festival’s inaugural year
100% of restaurants surveyed post-festival said they would participate again, and 60% reported a “significant uptick in diner traffic” throughout the festival