For more than forty years Watson’s has been a South Sound institution. It prides itself on being a destination that fuels a passion for living by providing products that enhance your home, garden, and life.

The holidays are a slow time for nurseries. Watson’s has long generated buzz by offering an opportunity to have a photo taken with live reindeer. While this garnered media attention and brought visitors, it didn’t help with foot traffic inside the store. Early on, Watson’s tried to respond by selling reindeer-themed items as a way to boost sales during this season, but this had minimal effect.

Brand Stratos proposed an in-store scavenger hunt. For the prize, we designed and sourced “The Festive Flyer”—a custom-made stuffed animal of a flying reindeer.

Watson's marketed the scavenger hunt to its visitors and in the first year increased foot traffic by 30% and raised the average sale from $50 to $80. This same strategy is still in place. We have designed and sourced new products for the item such as Nigel the gnome, but the Festive Flyer is legendary and songs are sung about it to this day.