With its new fall campaign, Indigo is aiming to be a go-to weekend destination.

During “Make it an Indigo Weekend,” Chapters, Indigo and Coles locations will be holding weekend events in-store based around a different theme, beginning last week and running until Nov. 1. The first events last weekend saw customers receive ten times the Plum rewards points on purchases, as well as an American Girl arts and crafts activity in the kids sections of stores.

Every weekend looks to have a mix of events that will appeal to adults (such as one based around Indigo’s list of the best books of the year), kids (like Goosebumps-themed events or “pajama jam” storytelling parties) or both (like events based around Star Wars or colouring books, capitalizing on the growing trend of adult colouring). Samantha Taylor, VP of marketing at Indigo, says its main target is 25- to 45-year-olds, and the events are meant to have something that will appeal to them, as well as their children.

“Some of our most valuable customers are those that shop everything: books, general merchandise as well as the kids section,” she says. “The kids activities are grounded in the kinds of things we felt are meaningful for parents and the connection they have with Indigo Kids, and whether that’s Star Wars or colouring or our best books, we wanted to make sure they intersected with what kids and adults are talking about right now so it’d be relevant.”

Throughout the campaign, Indigo will be running a full range of creative to promote the events. In addition to out-of-home and Facebook ads, new radio ads will debut every Thursday in major markets during the campaign, promoting that weekend’s particular theme. Taylor says the campaign was inspired, in part, by customers on social media posting photos of their relaxing, reading-centric weekend, so the campaign includes an Instagram contest. People who post a photo of what their “#IndigoWeekend” looks like will be entered into a bi-weekly draw to win a $100 gift card and 35,000 Plum rewards points.

Creative and social media on the campaign is being done in-house by Indigo, with a media buy handled by UM.

Taylor says this is the first major campaign Indigo has done that isn’t focused on a particular occasion, such as back-to-school, Mother’s Day or the winter holidays. This is based on consumer research the retailer did in the spring where it found customers were big on Indigo’s in-store experience, not just for finding gifts but as a chance to unplug or to buy things to be used for a relaxing weekend, like a book to read and a throw pillow or blanket from it’s general merchandise offering.

“All retailers are very interested in traffic and store visits, and we’re not necessarily a place people get necessities, so people have to plan ahead to make a visit to the store,” Taylor says. “We felt there was a chance to inspire people to make Indigo a part of their weekend, which could become an occasion on it’s own. We wanted to use this campaign to inspire those moments and encourage customers to make one more trip into stores.”