Case Studies chevron_right Who's Your Walter?
Wayne Gretzky Wines · Father's Day Campaign

Who's Your
Walter?

A collectible Father's Day promotion celebrating the people who guide us, inspire us, and always have our backs.

Client
Wayne Gretzky Wines
Campaign
Who's Your Walter?
Reach
50,000+ pairs distributed
Services
Product Design, Packaging, Retail Activation
Custom Product Design Retail Packaging National Distribution 50,000+ Units
Build Merch That Moves arrow_forward
Three collectible hockey-inspired sock designs with custom 'Who's Your Walter?' bottle-hanger packaging created for Wayne Gretzky Wines.

Three collectible sock designs — Edmonton, Los Angeles, and New York — with custom bottle-hanger packaging for Wayne Gretzky Wines.

50K+
Pairs Distributed
3
Collectible Designs
🇨🇦
National Rollout
1
Heartfelt Story
The Opportunity

Turning a Father's Day tribute into a memorable retail moment

Walter Gretzky was more than Wayne's father. He was a teacher, mentor, coach, and enduring source of encouragement. "Who's Your Walter?" invited Canadians to recognize the person who played that role in their own lives.

For Father's Day, Wayne Gretzky Wines wanted to bring that idea to life through a promotion that felt personal, useful, collectible, and unmistakably connected to Wayne's story.

"Everyone has a Walter."

That simple idea — an invitation to celebrate the father figures, mentors, and coaches in your own life — became the foundation for a campaign that connected with Canadians in a genuinely meaningful way.

Three collectible hockey-inspired sock designs — Edmonton, Los Angeles, and New York — created for Wayne Gretzky Wines
The Idea

Three designs. Three iconic chapters. One heartfelt story.

We created a series of custom socks inspired by three celebrated chapters of Wayne Gretzky's hockey career: Edmonton, Los Angeles, and New York. Each design used a distinctive colour palette and pattern to evoke its corresponding hockey city while remaining part of one cohesive collection.

The result was a gift that combined nostalgia, personality, and everyday wearability — giving shoppers a compelling reason to engage with the Father's Day campaign.

The Packaging

Designed to stand out — and hang right on the bottle

The product was only part of the challenge. The socks needed to work within liquor-store environments across the country without requiring a separate display.

We developed custom bottle-hanger packaging that attached the promotional item directly to Wayne Gretzky wine bottles. The compact format held the socks securely, communicated the "Who's Your Walter?" message, and created instant visibility at the point of purchase.

This transformed each bottle into a complete Father's Day gift and gave the campaign a strong, consistent presence at retail.

shopping_bag

No separate display needed. The packaging turned every bottle into its own Father's Day gift — shelf-ready, attention-grabbing, and easy for retailers to deploy.

That's smart retail packaging.

The Rollout

A national activation built for scale

The campaign rolled out through liquor stores across Canada, with more than 50,000 pairs of socks distributed for Father's Day.

From the collectible designs to the bottle-ready packaging, every element was created to make the promotion simple for retailers, appealing to shoppers, and memorable for recipients.

store
National Liquor Store Distribution
Deployed across Canada at retail
checkroom
50,000+ Pairs of Custom Socks
Three collectible hockey-inspired designs
wine_bar
Bottle-Ready Packaging
Attached directly to Wayne Gretzky wine bottles
favorite
Strong Consumer Reception
An instant Father's Day hit at retail
The Results

An instant Father's Day hit

The promotion connected a heartfelt message with a fun, highly giftable product. It celebrated the Walter Gretzkys in people's lives while giving Wayne Gretzky Wines an approachable and distinctive Father's Day presence across the country.

50,000+

Pairs Distributed

Custom socks delivered to shoppers through liquor stores across Canada for Father's Day.

3

Collectible Designs

Hockey-inspired patterns representing three celebrated chapters of Wayne Gretzky's career.

🇨🇦

National Presence

Strong, consistent retail visibility across liquor stores from coast to coast.

Why It Worked

A campaign with heart — from concept to shelf

"Who's Your Walter?" showed how thoughtful product design and smart retail packaging can turn a simple giveaway into a meaningful brand experience.

By combining an authentic story, a collectible product, and a practical national rollout, we created a Father's Day campaign Canadians were excited to bring home.

Great merch doesn't just get handed out. It gets kept, talked about, and remembered.

Have an idea that deserves to stand out at retail?

Let's bring it to life.

Start the conversation arrow_forward

Ready to build merch people actually keep?

Let's create something your audience will talk about, share, and hold onto long after the campaign is over.

Build Your Merch Strategy arrow_forward See More Case Studies