or the Municipality of Utrecht, The Groundbreakers developed the city’s central New Year’s Eve countdown at Jaarbeursplein. With the event ‘Oud en vanaf nuuu’, the municipality aimed to introduce a new tradition: a safe, inclusive and connecting New Year’s celebration without fireworks, where residents of Utrecht could welcome the new year together.

The Groundbreakers created and produced a full evening programme with a distinct Utrecht identity. Local artists played a central role throughout the show. A specially designed stage, featuring two ten-metre-high Dom Tower structures, formed the visual centrepiece of the event, combined with LED screens, illuminated letters and a spectacular countdown show.

The evening kicked off with an interactive children’s countdown, hosted by Lucas van de Meerendonk, where children completed playful challenges together to work their way towards midnight. Later in the evening, the central countdown for the entire city took place, featuring music, entertainment and performances by Utrecht-based talent. During the spectacular finale, thousands of residents counted down together and experienced a memorable New Year’s Eve at Jaarbeursplein.

Het bericht OUD EN VANAF NUUUU verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

Welcome to Retailland, the magical tropical island where the NS Retail-tribe comes together for a two day staff festival. We transformed the beautiful Werkspoorkathedraal in Utrecht into the summer oasis of Retailland. Visitors embarked on a journey of discovery, exploring all the magical places that a tropical island has to offer.

Upon arrival, you were immediately immersed in the atmosphere by the sounds of a live didgeridoo artist, followed by an impressive Haka workshop. Island guests enjoyed unforgettable performances and delightful treats from one of the many food trucks in the Lost City. In the Jungle, they embraced the challenge of a lasergame challenge, through trees and swinging monkeys on vines.

The Lagoon offered a magical experience, where visitors could float on the ball pit lake while savoring drinks from the wine bar. And finally, they danced away the night at the silent disco submarine on the beach.

We are still enjoying this fantastic staff party on the tropical island of Retailland. We were completely ‘Lost in Retailparadise’ for a while.

Het bericht RETAILLAND verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

PostNL visits every street in the Netherlands every day, and is therefore aware of the impact they have and can have. PostNL asked us to develop a sustainable activation concept, and we did so in the field of biodiversity. Insects are not doing so well in the Netherlands. In recent decades, more than 50% of all insects in the Netherlands have disappeared. This is because their habitat is becoming smaller and there is less and less greenery in the city.

As part of National Climate Week, we have therefore transformed a parcel locker for PostNL into a city garden. On the roof you will find the favorite plants of rare butterflies and bees such as the Heather Butterfly and Coastal Wallpaperer Bee. After research, we know that these animals occur in the area, but are on the Red List because they are in danger of disappearing. The city garden can help them make a stopover or hibernate.

The design is not only beautiful but also has an educational function. You can read facts and figures about the bees and butterflies that we want to attract with the city garden! The special parcel locker was opened by nature and animal expert Floris Göbel, who talked about the importance of biodiversity.

Suzanne Debrichy, Environmental Lead PostNL: “In the coming period, the city garden in the municipality of The Hague will be closely monitored to gain insight into which animals this green oasis attracts. How the neighborhood responds to it is also examined. Based on this, we will see whether we can also transform parcel lockers in other places into city gardens.” The next green parcel locker has already been developed, so this great project will be continued. And that not only makes the insects happy, but us too!

Het bericht STADSTUINTJE verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

Showering accounts for most of our water consumption. The average Dutch person showers for 8.3 minutes every day, washing away as much as 70 litres of drinking water! Young people shower even more often and more than average, so there is a lot of water to be gained there. Vitens asked us to develop an activation concept to reduce students' water consumption.

To bring water saving to the attention of students, we developed a fresh activation for Vitens named ‘Fresh with less’! We took this activation to the student introduction weeks of student cities like Utrecht and Nijmegen. We developed a Vitens branded setting in the form of a cube with a unique experience on each side. So students could share their water wisdom, take a picture in the shower with as many new friends as possible, learn more about water consumption and catch drops themselves - because every drop counts!

Het bericht FRESH WITH LESS verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

For the 50th anniversary of Hoog Catharijne, we were asked to develop a spectacular anniversary show in downtown Utrecht. Well-known artists Antoon and Davina Michelle provided live performances from an impressive stage on the water during The Big Anniversary ShowThe Groundbreakers won the pitch from property owner Klépierre and was allowed to develop and produce the special anniversary show.

Exactly fifty years after the opening by Princess Beatrix on 24 September 1973, thousands of visitors gathered on and around the Utrecht Singel to celebrate the golden anniversary. An imposing stage on the water in front of the entrance to Hoog Catharijne on the TivoliVredenburg side rose for The Big Anniversary Show. More than 4,000 visitors enjoyed the free show from stands on the quays or on boats in the water. The memorable show was presented by Utrechter Tim Senders, known from Streetlab.

Mayor of Utrecht, Sharon Dijksma, and Shopping Center Director Rinus Griep opened the evening, after which the audience enjoyed a jam-packed entertainment programme. Highlights of the show included live performances by pop artist Antoon and singer Davina Michelle and her band. At the end of the anniversary show, the history of Hoog Catharijne and its connection to the city of Utrecht was highlighted, after which dancers on the water catwalk, fire throwers, light artists and mermaids formed a dazzling grand finale. The Big Anniversary Show was a wonderful finale to the iconic shopping centre's 50th anniversary.

Brand experience agency The Groundbreakers developed and produced Hoog Catharijne's anniversary show on behalf of owner Klépierre. The Big Anniversary Show was the end of the three-month anniversary campaign in which events and activities in and around the shopping centre were organised every week by the agency. These included a ten-day children's party XXL, interactive pop-up experience about history, game show with human grabbing machine 'Lucky Crane' and a boat taxi shuttle service that took visitors from the city centre across the canals to the shopping centre.

Het bericht BIG ANNIVERSARY SHOW verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

The Groundbreakers was asked to develop a mediagenic activation for the launch of this sustainable campaign. To visualize the impact of single-use cups, we placed an eye-catching waste container with thousands of actually used disposable cups in the station hall. Travelers were encouraged to throw away their very last disposable cup. When participants throw the cup into the container, the scenery suddenly comes to life. The mannequin arms with protest signs spontaneously start moving, the lights around the container turn green and the participants are enthusiastically rewarded with the sound of loud applause from within the waste container. The playful brand activation creates awareness, activates the target group to take action and has generated a lot of national media attention.

Met deze activatie heeft The Groundbreakers samen met NS de allereerste Gouden Giraffe voor het meest duurzame evenement in 2023 gewonnen. Lees Read meer over de awardwinst!

Het bericht BRING YOUR OWN verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

The campaign came to life with a striking brand activation at the Zuidas in Amsterdam and Utrecht Central Station. To promote sustainable travel to Switzerland, travellers could win train tickets to Switzerland during this multi-day event. All they had to do was spending six hours in a pop-up train cabin. The enthusiasm for participating in the brand activation was enormous; within no time, more than 900 people signed up to participate The brand activation was a great success and dozens of people won a trip to Switzerland.

The five-week online campaign reached more than 2.5 million people. Through two weeks of out-of-home advertising and the live brand activations in Amsterdam and Utrecht, an estimated 4.4 million people saw the campaign. ‘Experience pure winter in Switzerland’ was the main message we wanted to pass on the campaign on behalf of Swiss Tourism. And when you go on Swiss winter holiday, travel sustainably and take the train.

Het bericht WINTERCAMPAGNE verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

Het bericht PLAY FOR POWER verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .

Ready to create impact together? Get in touch with us!

Het bericht LUCKY CRANE verscheen eerst op THE GROUNDBREAKERS .