How one of North America’s biggest vegan events rebranded and stays relevant after a decade
In 2024, the Planted Expo (formerly Veg Expo) launched in its third city, Seattle, after nine years operating in Vancouver, BC and its first year in Toronto in 2023. I was thrilled when Piquant Marketing‘s Lindsay O’Donnell, one partner at Planted Expo, agreed to share some of the event’s marketing secrets with me. Here we go!
Planted Expo’s Marketing Formula
In 2024, Planted Expo had three shows, which meant it really needed to stretch its resources to support the most shows, attendees, and vendors ever. It needed to differentiate between each city, but also maintain its brand standards.
It’s always used a mixture of digital marketing (social ads, organic content, programmatic, influencer marketing, email marketing, paid online content) and outdoor (postering, transit ads).
The team can see exactly how their digital ads and content perform, but it’s harder to measure traditional media, even though they know it’s important and adds a new touchpoint. You can see DailyHive’s Vancouver post about the event here.
What Planted Expo did in 2024
The marketing team spent about $10k–$15k on traditional media per city and about $6k–$10k per city on digital ads. For each city, they had 50 to 75 influencers. In each city, they spent $1k–$4k on paid partnerships with influencers.
Here’s an example of a creator collab with Kaitlyn Dickie at the Vancouver event. Some posts were used for ads.
The team also worked on email marketing through segmented email blasts.
Photo: Vegan Lifestyle Transformation Coach Nimai Delgado speaks with an attendee
Digital is always the expo’s most successful effort because they can see what’s working and can reach hundreds of thousands of people through influencer marketing.
What didn’t work
The biggest flop was postering. “I was chasing the rep to even confirm the posters were up the day before the Toronto event, and had to send multiple reminder emails to ask for confirmation posters were up,” Lindsay said. Ultimately, they had only 1 to 2 QR scans at each city through postering.
“It’s not that I don’t think postering doesn’t work, but I wouldn’t use this company again,” Lindsay continued.
The results
Results vary per city. Each city is unique. “Toronto feels like the easiest market, Vancouver has the most history and brand awareness, while Seattle was a bit of a battle,” said Lindsay. The team worked on connecting with Facebook groups and vegan influencers to get the word out.
Ultimately, Vancouver was consistent with years before. Toronto was a big success, and Seattle had some great wins for a new city, although it’s unlikely the expo will be back in Seattle next year.
On August 15, I received an email with this message:
Hello Sandra,
We appreciate your support and transparency, so we want to be upfront with you about our plans for 2025.
Whether you’re a vendor, sponsor, or one of our amazing attendees, we’re excited to share some important updates about the future of Planted.
First, the big news: we’re thrilled to confirm that our show in Toronto is booked for May 2025. This event is going to be incredible, and we can’t wait to bring together our amazing community once again.
Now, for Vancouver and Seattle—we love you, and we’re not going anywhere. But after an epic 2024, where we entered a new market and even a new country, we’ve had to take a step back and get real about our capacity. Our team has changed, and our plans have evolved, leading us to make some tough but necessary decisions.
We’re scaling back in 2025 to focus all our energy on making the Toronto event truly unforgettable while we strategize and plan for Planted’s future. This means rethinking what needs to evolve, what needs to change, and where we should lean in as we continue to grow.
We know that from the outside, it might look like we’re a big corporation, but the truth is, we’re a small, dynamic team of passionate plant-heads, working tirelessly behind the scenes. From securing venues to navigating permits, borders, and billboards—it’s a lot to manage.
That’s why we’ve decided to pour everything into one spectacular event in Toronto, while we plan and scheme on what comes next. And believe us, it’s going to be amazing.
Vendors and sponsors: Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be part of this incredible event. Spots are limited, so make sure to get in touch with Alana today at Alana@plantedlife.com to secure your place.
Attendees: Stay tuned—we’re working on some exciting projects behind the scenes, and we’ll be sharing more details soon.
Thank you for being part of the Planted community. We can’t wait to continue this journey with you in Toronto and beyond.
With love and gratitude,
—Your Planted Expo Team!
Maybe I need to book a flight to Toronto next May…
Stay tuned for more news at plantedlife.com!
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Need to take marketing off your plate so you can focus on other aspects of your business? Read more about my services here and contact me if you’re ready to begin!
All images supplied by Lindsay O’Donnell.
