HILROY CELEBRATES ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY

February 16, 2018

Canadian brand Hilroy® celebrates its century-long existence with entertainment, art, social media and charity.

Canadian brand Hilroy® has turned 100.

Hilroy® was founded in Toronto in 1918 by Roy Corson Hill and has become a well-known and reputable brand for classroom supplies across Canada ever since.

The anniversary was kicked off in June 2018 with a campaign that promoted the history of Hilroy® products, the art of putting pen to paper in a technologically consumed world and charity.

“The brand is nostalgic and has grown with Canadians over the past century, so we really wanted to celebrate that history while also promoting the importance of putting pen to paper for the younger generation,” Cristina Franco, Marketing Director at ACCO Brands, said. “It’s truly the best of the old and the new.”

The campaign kicked off on June 26, 2018 with an invitation-only celebrity and media event. The guest list included Canadian celebrities and social media influencers and was themed, “The Class of 2018.” Airship27, adjacent to Toronto’s Distillery District, was the site of the event, and guests celebrated Hilroy® by taking their “school photos” for the yearbook and signing an oversized Hilroy® notebook. Guests also had the opportunity to see 100 years of product and advertising samples displayed at the venue.

Some of Canada’s leading entertainers attended the party, including Toronto City Councilor and Twitter sensation Norm Kelly, TV host Ben Mulroney, rising musician Francesco Yates and former CFL player Brian Warren. A few of Roy Hill’s grandchildren attended the event, as well.

Along with other guests, they were asked to jot their thoughts, ideas and drawings in a Hilroy® notebook and take a picture of their work, tweeting it with the hashtag #hilroy100challenge to promote the brand and the importance of giving back to the community. For each challenge successfully completed, a notebook was donated to Start to Finish, a charitable organization that provides school supplies to children in need.

In addition to the celebration, local rising street artist Arturo Parada, created an art installation at the Distillery District in Toronto, to celebrate 100 years of Hilroy. Canadians were invited to take selfies in front of the installation and promote it using the hashtag #hilroy100. These selfies were intended to lend themselves to marketing the brand and its enduring presence. The artwork was displayed from June 15 to mid-September.

“Everything about the event and installation was designed to help people interact with Hilroy® and share their personal connections with the brand,” Franco said.

Follow Hilroy® on:

Instagram, twitter: @hilroycanada

Facebook: @Hilroy.ca