Rabbit Hill's 70th Anniversary

Categories: Print Marketing, Branding, Logo, Digital Marketing, and Events, Branding, Graphic Design, Marketing Strategy, Event Promotion

Background: Rabbit Hill’s 70th Anniversary was celebrated in 2025, marking seven decades as Edmonton’s premier winter destination. Located in the breathtaking North Saskatchewan River Valley, Rabbit Hill offers over 40 acres of skiable terrain, an exhilarating tube park, and one of Western Canada’s top terrain parks. The resort has built a legacy of delivering unforgettable recreation experiences by honoring tradition while embracing innovation. Learn more about Rabbit Hill’s history here.

Objective: The goal was to design branding that commemorates this milestone season while seamlessly integrating with Rabbit Hill’s existing brand identity. The 70th-anniversary branding needed to be distinct and celebratory yet recognizable, ensuring an easy transition back to the resort’s standard branding after the anniversary season.

Results: The 70th-anniversary branding embraces modern Scandinavian aesthetics characterized by clean geometry, nature-inspired patterns, and minimalism. At the same time, Rabbit Hill’s history is honoured by maintaining its signature wordmark and winter-inspired elements. By doing so, the branding seamlessly blends tradition and reflecting the resort’s ongoing evolution.

70^TH ANNIVERSARY BRANDING

Branding Inspiration

The branding draws from Scandinavian design and Rabbit Hill’s winter heritage. The clean, stylized patterns reflect nature-inspired elements like snowflakes, leaves, and flowers, emphasizing a handcrafted yet minimalist feel.

Unused Logo Concepts

Concept 1: The first concept features an oversized 70 filled with hand-drawn Scandinavian patterns, inspired by folk art. While visually striking, the intricate details posed a challenge for reproduction across various media, particularly in smaller applications like embroidery or screen printing.

Concept 2: Another explored concept involved transforming the 0 in 70 into a snowflake. This approach created a direct visual connection to the original logo, reinforcing Rabbit Hill’s winter identity. While the idea effectively tied in the resort’s history, it presented a readability challenge—there was a risk that viewers might misinterpret the design as just a 7 rather than a full 70.

Logo & Slogan

Final Logo: The 70th-anniversary logo preserves the original Rabbit Hill Snow Resort wordmark, maintaining brand recognition while introducing a fresh, celebratory element. The snowflake is replaced with a bold, flowing “70,” symbolizing continuous movement, progression, and the resort’s future. The 7 seamlessly connects to the 0, creating a dynamic sense of motion that reflects both the energy of skiing and snowboarding and the ongoing evolution of Rabbit Hill. The small snowflake at the center of the 0 ties back to the original logo, reinforcing Rabbit Hill’s winter identity.

Slogan: The phrase “years & counting” wraps around the 0, ensuring the logo proudly reads: Rabbit Hill Snow Resort: 70 Years & Counting. More than a celebration of the past, this slogan highlights Rabbit Hill’s legacy and future, welcoming new generations of skiers and snowboarders for years to come.

Colours & Type

Colour Palette: To maintain brand consistency and recognition, Rabbit Hill’s signature navy blue remains the primary color. However, to introduce a fresh, celebratory feel, I incorporated four additional shades of blue that add depth, movement, and evoke winter’s crisp, airy atmosphere.

Typography: Trebuchet and Francois One were both part of Rabbit Hill Snow Resort’s existing branding. To ensure consistency, I maintained Trebuchet for body and subheading text. For headers, I introduced Francois One, a typeface already featured on the website but not widely used in other applications. This choice helped unify the brand’s visual identity across all platforms, strengthening the resort’s overall presence.

Graphic Elements

Modern Scandinavian patterns inspired the graphic elements in the 70th-anniversary branding, using simple, stylized shapes to depict natural elements like leaves, flowers, and snowflakes.

Pattern: This pattern embraces a clean yet handcrafted aesthetic, reinforcing the theme of tradition and innovation. Designed in the 70th-anniversary color palette, it creates a cohesive and recognizable visual identity.

Shapes: To further enhance versatility, I extracted select stylized shapes from the pattern and used them as graphic aids, thereby adding consistency and depth across different applications.

Squircle: For the purpose of anchoring text and logos, I incorporated a squircle—a soft, rounded-square shape. This choice complements the pulled-out Scandinavian elements while also making the rounded corners of the wordmark feel intentional. The squircle’s balance of structure and softness helps unify the design and creates a natural focal point for key messaging.

Snow Texture: To further push the winter theme, I introduced a subtle snow pattern, reinforcing Rabbit Hill’s identity as a premier winter destination and adding seasonal texture to the overall design.

Marketing Campaign Messaging

To complement the visual branding for Rabbit Hill’s 70th anniversary, I developed key messaging elements to evoke emotion and inspire engagement.

Slogans & Hashtags:

• 70 Years & Counting – #70YearsAndCounting
• Make Your Winter Unforgettable – #Unforgettable

Emotional Trigger Words:

By weaving these themes into the branding and communication strategy, I aimed to create an emotional connection with Rabbit Hill’s audience, reinforcing the resort’s identity as a place where unforgettable winter memories are made.

70TH ANNIVERSARY BRAND COLLATERAL

Consistent Branding Across Touchpoints
To create a cohesive guest experience, seasonal signage—like the price boards—was updated with 70th anniversary branding. This ensured even functional elements felt celebratory and on-theme. Signage with a longer shelf life, such as permanent wayfinding or instructional signs, remained consistent with Rabbit Hill’s core brand to maintain visual continuity beyond the anniversary season.

70TH ANNIVERSARY MARKETING CAMPAIGN ACTIVATIONS

Lift Ticket Scavenger Hunt: 70 Hidden Tickets for 70 Years

To generate buzz and build excitement ahead of our 70th season, we launched a community-wide scavenger hunt on November 1st. We hid 70 free lift tickets (in 35 envelopes) across Edmonton and three surrounding communities: Devon, Calmar, and Leduc. Each envelope contained two tickets, encouraging winners to bring a friend and share in the celebration.

This guerrilla-style campaign was strategically designed to engage our audience both online and offline. Envelopes were hidden in meaningful and high-traffic locations tied to sports, recreation, and local culture. Further strengthening our connection with the communities that have supported Rabbit Hill for 70 years.

We shared clues through Instagram and Facebook Stories, inviting followers to hunt in real-time and boosting engagement on social media. Ultimately, this rewarded our loyal guests and introduced new visitors to Rabbit Hill, reinforcing the brand’s presence ahead of opening day.

Limited Edition 70th Beer Can Illustration & Design

In collaboration with Town Square Brewing, I illustrated a limited-edition beer can exclusively available at Rabbit Hill Snow Resort. Using vibrant digital watercolour, I captured the resort’s iconic lodge and pine trees beneath a glowing aurora borealis—a nod to the beer’s name, Aurora. As a result, the design captures the magic of a winter evening on the hill, making it the perfect après-ski companion and a standout collector’s item.

Upcycled Uniform/Gear Initiative

To honour Rabbit Hill’s history while embracing sustainability, we launched a limited collection of duffle bags and headbands crafted from retired staff uniforms. In collaboration with Blenderz Garment Recyclers, this upcycled gear campaign gave new life to well-worn materials, celebrating decades of ski and snowboard lessons through one-of-a-kind items.

Additionally, I supported the initiative by creating social media content and e-newsletter features, ensuring the project aligned with the overall 70th-anniversary branding and reached our community. The campaign tied nostalgia, environmental consciousness, and local partnerships into a memorable, purpose-driven promotion.

Campfire Stories Interview Series

To deepen the emotional connection with our community, we created a video series celebrating Rabbit Hill’s 70th anniversary through personal stories. The campfire was chosen as a framing device to evoke warmth, nostalgia, and shared memories.

My role included developing the concept, filming interviews, and helping shape the tone and direction of the series. In addition, short-form videos were created for social media, while full-length versions were shared on YouTube. Altogether, this campaign added a heartfelt, human element to the anniversary and strengthened the resort’s community ties.

View the complete video collection in this YouTube Playlist.

70th Anniversary Platinum Party

Celebrating 70 Years of Embracing Winter! As the lead event planner and marketing manager, I conceptualized, organized, and executed Rabbit Hill Snow Resort’s Platinum Party – a vibrant community celebration honouring our 70th season.

Held on February 8, 2025, the event welcomed guests for an afternoon of winter festivities, including:

• Vendor booths where guests could interact with Rabbit Hill partners and test the latest ski and snowboard gear.
• A live DJ brought energy to the event, creating a fun and vibrant atmosphere.
• Fire Pits encouraged guests to gather, warm up, and enjoy the outdoor celebration.
• Raffle Prizes from Arc’teryx, Wintersteiger, and Snow Board Stomp Pads offered excitement and incentive.
• The Fashion Show featuring Snow School uniforms through the decades was a great way to honour the past.
• The Snowcat Naming Ceremony unveiled the winning name chosen by public vote, celebrating community connection.
• Branded cupcakes offered guests a sweet way to celebrate Rabbit Hill’s milestone.

Throughout the planning process, I managed event logistics, vendor coordination, day-of execution, and promotion across web, social media, and email. Branded materials and messaging were carefully aligned with the 70th anniversary visual identity, ensuring the celebration felt cohesive and nostalgic. The result was a high-energy day that honoured the resort’s legacy while engaging our current community.