Inside Roots’s Northern Lights Black Friday Event

Instead of the traditional holiday gift guide, the beloved Canadian lifestyle brand Roots has changed the game with their Holiday 2017 event, Northern Lights. The experiential event took place in Toronto on November 21 and combined live music, technology, art and fashion, with guests being able to shop the collection as they were seeing it walk down the runway using the “Roots Live” mobile app.

“The [app] works a lot like Shazam but for live events,” James Connell, VP of E-Commerce and Marketing for Roots, tells Teen Vogue. “It scans the music that’s in the room and will pick up the ultrasonic sound waves, populating the screen with all of the individual products you are seeing on stage. Obviously it is very see-now-buy-now, unlike many other events, where you have to go somewhere else to purchase after the fact.”

The custom musical score, created by classically trained violinist Andrew Forde with vocals performed by the up-and-coming Canadian pop artist Ryland James, was accompanied by an original video viewed on huge screens covering three walls of the venue. “Everything you see on the video is actually completely original artwork and is really meant to celebrate the best of Canada from our elements to our artists, as well as the icons across the country,” Connell adds. “There are also certain moments in the piece that are celebratory of different aspects of iconic Roots products — like the Cabin collection or the Salt and Pepper sweat collection, which is original to Roots.”

Acting as the backdrop for the runway, the video also featured life-sized models, which, at times, looked so realistic that they could be mistaken for the real models walking the runway. Connell explains that they “shot the video on a green screen and then had animators custom animate all of the backgrounds to put the models in. There is a surreal sense of reality and a blend between the dreamy and mystical aspects of the holidays paired with what is in the room to really give you a sensory overload.”

The event concluded with a performance by JUNO Award Winning multi-platinum recording artist Ruth B, who sang two of her songs including her hit single, “Lost Boy”, and a classic Christmas song to set the holiday spirit. The entire event was streamed live through a Facebook Live video, truly making this a global experience.

If you weren’t at the event, or you weren’t able to watch the Facebook Live video, don’t fret! You can still view the video and shop the collection for all of your Holiday shopping must-haves, just in time for Black Friday.