Publix Super Markets is the largest employee-owned grocery chain in the United States with over 200,000 employees. Founded in 1930, they have grown to be one of the largest food retailers, providing fresh food in over 1,200 supermarkets throughout the eastern half of the country.
Publix has been sponsoring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for some time. But this year, they wanted to do something different and create a show-stopping brand activation experience for everyone at the games, so they connected with Rockway for help.
Client Needs + Design Elements
Publix required specific elements to be included in the design of the brand activation – their ultimate goal was to create a brand-new, free tailgating experience where the cooking demos and samples were bigger and better than ever before.
The Rockway Exhibit Approach
Rockway helped Publix choose a tailgate space (5,700 sqft) inside a season pass holder and RV lot at Raymond James Stadium. The lot was sold out prior to this project, so Rockway knew to expect heavy traffic and put on an “I need to be there” feeling in the experiential event.
The entire space was on concrete, so Rockway had the job of turning a “concrete jungle” into a branded activation space. To do that, we enlisted Maximus (the 72’ long industrial kitchen on wheels) so that the Publix Apron Chefs could cook gourmet tailgate food, brought directly from Publix stores and cooked fresh right in front of hungry fans. Maximus also has a large video wall and smaller TVs where pre-game or other NFL games are shown.
In addition to world-class food, Rockway created multiple areas for shade, seating, and serving of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. Complete with an area dedicated to a live DJ, Giant Ball Pong, Jenga, Corn Hole, and more! The entire space was brought together with a custom laid turf, making it a dominant and distinct Publix Ultimate Tailgate Party! #PublixUTP
This free Publix experience has been and will be active before all 8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers home games and starts 4 hours before kickoff. So far, these tailgates have been extremely successful and we can’t wait to see how the season ends!
Outdoor experiential events are kicking off. Come back for the 2nd half to see how it ends. We guarantee it’ll be a good one! In the meantime, you can schedule a free consultation with one of our experts to create an engaging experiential brand experience for your customers.