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This talented BHAA volunteer and ‘experiential marketing’ expert conjures up magical events  

When marketing expert Lindsay STRANSMAN’08 stepped up to volunteer in 2019, she had a question for her friend Melanie ARGIROS Breder’08 (now President of the Branksome Hall Alumnae Association): Why didn't our Alum Trivia Night have a Branksome-specific category?
“I just felt that there was an opportunity to build on our collective nostalgia to create a genuine sense of connection amongst the attendees,” says the talented creative director who specializes in experiential marketing at Salt XC, a new agency in Toronto.
 
Stransman has always been at the centre of action, since she set out at the highly competitive Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University (NYU) in 2008. There, internships counted for actual credits, not more typically, as co-op placements.

In her self-directed program, initially focused on fashion marketing, Stransman stepped right up and earned dream internships—first, at luxury clothier Celine, then with the editor-in-chief of Condé Nast’s W Magazine, and finally a spin around Vogue’s fashion department.

“Those experiences were so important to my story, not because they revealed my dream job, but because I had the opportunity to suss out a world I had loved from afar and determine that it wasn't for me,” says Stransman. After NYU, she spent six years establishing her career in branded entertainment and experiential marketing at Ogilvy & Mather, WME IMG, and Jack Morton Worldwide, working for clients like Budweiser, Under Armour, and Cadillac. 

A gifted communicator and strategist, Stransman describes her work in experiential marketing as “creating branded experiences that consumers actually want to participate in, rather than pushing ‘branded interruptions’ into your life.” 

Describing the shift in marketing over the past decade, she explains how brands like Red Bull, the energy drink, made the ingenious leap from selling a product to creating a connection with a consumer’s core values—“giving wings to people and ideas”—to attract a loyal market. As a creative director, her role is all about finding the most genuine ways to connect consumers and brands.

“It’s a two-way system,” says Stransman. “I always ask myself, ‘What will the brand get from this and what does the customer get from this?’ If both aren’t easy answers then the idea isn’t ready.”

A case in point is the event Stransman masterminded for Cadillac Fairview’s Sherway Gardens over Christmas. While the pandemic kept most of the city closed, the shopping centre created a “Holiday Drive-Thru” that took families on an elf-guided (yes, you read that correctly) journey through the North Pole. The half-hour immersive drive-thru included six interactive stops with trivia, carols, and of course, a physically distanced photo with Santa.

Did you get a ticket? Likely not, because the event Stransman dreamed up sold out in 15 minutes to Sherway Gardens’ Insiders’ Club for an entire month of visits, before it could be available to the public.
   
While there’s no formula to Stansman’s creativity, she says she always has her eyes and ears open for inspiration by listening to podcasts, searching Instagram and reading articles to stay on top of culturally relevant news and trends. 

“It’s about finding that white space where the brand goals, cultural trends and customer interest all overlap, and piecing it all together.”

Clearly, as the Branksome Hall Alumnae Association looks forward to a time when in-person events are once again possible, we’re fortunate to have her on board. 
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to acknowledge this land on which Branksome operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and go to school on this land.

Setting the new standard for girls' education everywhere takes collective action. From all of us.
 
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