Our History

Within months of launching Inventa we were able to land our first significant client. This was a test market for a new product joint venture between Nestle and Coca-Cola called Nescafe Ice. Chilled coffee in a can!! We launched a sampling campaign in the heart of Canadian coffee culture, Vancouver giving out 100,000 samples to thirsty coffee lovers.

Barq's, the one with bite - and the power to launch an agency. In 1997 Inventa won its first truly national assignment from Coca-Cola, with the launch of Barq's Root Beer across Canada. We took a big bite into the agency world with this one!

1998 was another huge step forward for Inventa as we continued our growth as agency of record with Coca-Cola launching Cherry Coke in Quebec, the Sprite Basketball Squad across Canada and continuing our campaign for Barq's.

From Isaiah Thomas and Grant Hill to Lebron James, Sprite has always been part of the basketball scene, but in 1999 we helped Sprite put a Canadian spin on things and brought the Sprite Snowboard Squad to hills across Canada! Pro Riders hit all the best mountains from coast to coast to bring Sprite and sport to youth.

The TMR (Team Motivational Retreat) has always been a big part of Inventa team building and in 2001 we had a memorable one where we launched our new logo. This was the year Rich Wiens now a partner joined Inventa. Oh and we launched the Coke Card and internet on your phone?! Yeah... that wasn't a thing until 2001 when Telus hired Inventa to help promote i-web.

From 2001-2003 we worked on another big national launch - this time for Old Navy who came to Canada with a tonne of fanfare. Plenty of free jeans were given away!

When Best Buy made its way north into Canada, it was a big deal....and we were lucky to be a part of it! These weren't any ol' store openings, we're talking free performances by Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, John Mayer to name a few. Building green rooms, VIP transport plans, line-up layouts, and security plans all fell into our scope, which we did beyond the ``Best`` of our abilities!

On Dec. 31 2009 one of the largest, most complex experiential campaigns in Canadian history began: The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. Inventa not only was in charge of all of the 186 daily celebration shows for 106 Days, but also we ran Coca-Cola's entire activation. More then 100 staff worked on that epic journey with Custom stages, Olympic caldrons, incredible performers, Olympia ice resurfacers (its not a Zamboni), custom sampling trucks, glow bottles and hundreds of thousands of Coca-Cola aluminum bottles that ``opened happiness``. None of us will ever forget that epic winter!

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games were a milestone for Vancouver, and for Inventa. We hired over 1,000 staff between 2009 and 2010 to work on so many amazing client programs including the Coca-Cola Happiness House, BCLC Games Dome, CP Spirit Train, and many others. We created experiences that were shared the world over!

Coming off the back off the Wii's success in 2006, it was time for Nintendo of Canada to win living rooms across the country with a brand new gaming console....cue the Wii U for a grand entrance during a one-of-a-kind launch event! Situated along prime sidewalk-space along the Toronto Santa Claus Parade route, wave after wave of fans, families and Mii characters came by to get first-hand access to the revolutionary (at the time) Wii U Gamepad! Hot chocolate and cake pops anyone?!?!

What do Great Big Sea, Sheryl Crow, Tom Cochrane, Sarah Mclachlan and the Tenors all have in common? They graced the stages of the CP Holiday Train 15th Anniversary concert series. In waaaay below freezing temperatures these artists delighted families as the main attraction, the CP Holiday Train rolled in to stations in Hamilton, Calgary and Minneapolis! Since it's inception, the CP Holiday Train has raised over $20M and 4.9M pounds of food for food banks across North America!

In 2014 Inventa was awarded the opportunity to develop a pilot program to engage students about high opportunity careers in BC. Eight years later, the WorkBC Find Your Fit Tour is a demand driven property that is constantly evolving with new experiences for students. We couldn't have done it without a dedicated management team, all the enthusiastic field staff, school partners and a client who believes in this program that truly makes a difference.

In 2015 Toronto hosted The Pan Am Games with 6,123 athletes and 3,396 team officials representing 41 countries. Our client CIBC was the lead sponsor of both the Pan Am Torch relay and the games activations and asked Inventa to engage athletes and spectators to create unforgettable memories! It was another epic time for Inventa with over 300 Staff working on the games!

2016 brought another worldwide sporting event to Canada, the FIFA Women's World Cup. Coca-Cola was the lead sponsor and we had the privilege of touring the Women's World Cup Trophy across Canada building excitement and anticipation for this awesome event. The event was full of soccer activities, pictures with the trophy and lots of ice-cold Coca-Cola.

“Every company is a tech company, no matter what product or service it provides.” And at Inventa we’ve embraced this fully. In 2017 and 2018 Inventa was selected to work with the Province and Innovate BC to deliver the #BCTECHSummit. Seeing the innovation around us, along with the 9,000+ other attendees, continues to inspire our work in the tech sector to this day! Unique experiences were around every corner at this event, from formula E cars, to cat robots and leading edge VR technology!

Given the huge need for employees in the Technology industry we wanted to help youth understand what careers in tech are like. So Inventa created DOT “Doors Open to Technology”. The DOT event provides high school students with ‘doors-open’ access to the local B.C. tech industry in action. We connect the dots between the students’ vision of what they are looking for in a career and what tech occupations can offer. We provide an opportunity to actually see inside the world of BC’s Technology companies. In partnership with the BC government and companies like Microsoft, SAP, BC Hydro, Absolute, Sony Image Works, and the BC Tech Association, Inventa brings 400+ students from around BC to Vancouver to hear from Technology leaders about the future of careers in Technology.