If the goal was to make Toronto stop and stare, it worked.
A massive million-pound, 25-foot-long block of ice in the city’s downtown core — later revealed to conceal the release date for Drake’s upcoming album — quickly became the centre of a frenzy on Tuesday. Fans descended with blowtorches and pickaxes, chipping away at the frozen structure in hopes of uncovering the secret inside. By Wednesday morning, Toronto fire crews had stepped in, hosing down the sculpture and dispersing crowds amid growing safety concerns.
“This is clearly an effective way to get attention,” said Neesha Hothi, a marketing and communications agency founder who works in the music industry. “It engages the community and creates spectacle.”
Hothi said the stunt succeeded in its primary goal: commanding attention in an oversaturated media landscape.
“If you were on the ground in Toronto, you were interested in experiencing it,” Hothi said. “He got through a very crowded media environment.”
From a marketing standpoint, the stunt’s biggest advantage may be what it didn’t cost.
Compared to traditional album rollouts — which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars across media buys, publicists and global campaigns — a physical stunt like an ice installation is relatively inexpensive while generating massive earned media.
“If you look at the return on investment, it’s probably very good based on the amount of coverage he’s getting,” said retail analyst Bruce Winder.
Though the world won’t know if the gimmick paid off until the album is released on May 15, Winder said Drake is now faced with the task of releasing a project worthy of the hype.
“Anytime you stick your neck out and you’re getting attention, there’s a risk that you have to deliver,” he said. “Otherwise it backfires.”
Victoria Lord, a longtime media strategist in the music industry, said the ice blocks were an “undeniably successful” manoeuver following a period where Drake’s name has been tied heavily to his feud with Kendrick Lamar.
“Before this, the conversation was being driven by the feud with Lamar. What he has done now resets it,” she said. “After a very public moment, he’s shifting the narrative away from conflict and back into curiosity and even cultural dominance.”
The installation, placed in a parking lot at 81 Bond St., near the intersection of Church and Dundas streets, did not require a city permit because it sat on private property, according to municipal officials. But that didn’t stop the chaos.
As fans chipped away at the ice using open flames and tools on Tuesday night Toronto Fire Services stepped in, citing safety risks tied to flammable liquids and people climbing the structure.
Mayor Olivia Chow backed the intervention, stressing safety while acknowledging the excitement around the album.
“It was only one afternoon and people were overly excited, but hey, it is creative, and that’s what arts and culture is all about,” Chow said, adding “Drake is a good person” and she’ll “chat with him” about the stunt.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ward 13 councillor Chris Moise said the ice installation has “cost the city a lot of money.”
“I do hope that someone somewhere is tallying up the bill and perhaps send it to the powers that be,” Moise said.
“Out of respect for the residents of Toronto, they should have (told the city) … if I was informed, I wouldn’t have said no.”
In an update Wednesday afternoon, the city said fire crews had passed off the rest of the clean-up operations to the sculpture’s organizers, but did not elaborate.
Winder said he believes the tension between the city and Drake’s marketing may actually enhance the campaign’s impact.
“It creates a bit of a rebel positioning,” he said, describing a dynamic where fans rally around the artist in contrast to institutional pushback. “It’s kind of an ‘us versus them’ play.”
The sculpture’s designer, Michael Gingerich, said it was disappointing to see the sculpture shut down after it took about 30 hours and 100 staff to build the one million pound structure made of 3,000 blocks of ice.
Gingerich, who runs Mawg Design, a west-end marketing firm, said he was contacted by Drake’s team about a month ago with the idea. A few weeks later, he was overseeing the construction with 18 forklifts trying to build as quickly as possible.
“It would’ve been great to have it live longer,” Gingerich said, adding that he’s optimistic about the sculpture’s effect on the city.
“We have all these resources in Toronto. We have the contacts, we have the creativity, we have the brand power, we have the manpower, and we can do it. This is a great success story for Toronto and for Canadian culture.”
Hothi noted that Drake has curated a “hometown hero” image in Toronto and by anchoring the campaign in the city, he has strengthened the connection that is central to his brand.
“What he has said on no uncertain terms is that he’s still relevant,” Hothi said. “He’s saying ‘I’m still big enough to make the city stop and look.’”
