From a College Project to a Real Client: The Last Shot Bar & Grill

One of the coolest things about studying marketing is when something you create in a classroom doesn’t stay in the classroom.

What started as one of our college projects with JAMBO Creative eventually became a real client relationship and one of the projects that made me realize just how much I enjoy the creative side of marketing.

It Started as a Competition

During my time at Georgian College, I was part of JAMBO Creative, our student marketing agency.

We were given the opportunity to work with real businesses and develop marketing strategies for them. It wasn’t just about coming up with a few social media posts. We had to understand the business, identify its challenges, research its audience, and create an entire strategy that could actually work in the real world.

One of those projects was The Last Shot Bar & Grill in Thornton.

And we took it pretty seriously.

The restaurant was dealing with some challenges. Sales were low, its digital presence wasn’t very strong, and the business was also trying to move forward from the reputation left behind by the previous ownership. Their Google reviews were another challenge that needed to be addressed.

So our job wasn’t simply to make the restaurant “look better” online.

We needed to help change the way people saw it.

Our team developed a complete Integrated Marketing Communications strategy, including campaign ideas, creative concepts, social media content, advertising ideas and mockups showing what the future could look like.

And then something pretty exciting happened.

We won 1st place in the IMC Strategy competition.

But that wasn’t actually the end of the project. It was the beginning of something much more real.

From the Classroom to Real Life

After working on the strategy, the opportunity came to continue working with The Last Shot outside of the classroom. This summer, Pixelle took over the project and started turning some of those ideas into real marketing. For me, this was a completely different experience.

In school, you can create a campaign, present it, receive your grade and move on to the next project. With a real client, the ideas actually have somewhere to go.

People will see them. The business will use them. And you have to think about whether your ideas make sense beyond the presentation.

That was one of the things I was most excited about.

Making The Last Shot Feel Like The Last Shot

One of the biggest ideas we developed was based on something very simple:

People like seeing people.

Especially when you’re marketing a local restaurant.

Instead of making The Last Shot feel like just another pub with photos of food and generic promotional graphics, we wanted to make the people behind the business part of the brand.

The owners became our “main actors.” And honestly, it made perfect sense.

They are at the restaurant almost every day. They are involved in the business, they know their customers, and they are a huge part of what makes the place feel like a neighbourhood pub.

So why hide that?

We wanted people to see them working, preparing the restaurant, being in the kitchen and doing all the things that actually happen behind the scenes.

We wanted to show the real people behind the business.

That idea also became part of our advertising concept, including putting the owners themselves on the billboard and all creative concepts.

Because instead of simply saying:

“Come to our restaurant.”

We wanted people to feel like they were being invited somewhere by the people who actually own it.

Small Town, Not Downtown

The personality we wanted to build around The Last Shot was very intentional. It’s not trying to be a downtown Barrie restaurant.

It’s a small-town neighbourhood pub. And that’s exactly what makes it special. One of the ideas we developed around the brand was:

“Small Town, Not Downtown.”

It captures the feeling of the place pretty well.

It’s somewhere you can go for dinner, meet friends, watch a game, attend an event, or just stop in because you’re nearby.

They also have a beautiful patio during the summer, and there is always something happening, from karaoke nights and live concerts to trivia, car shows and poker.

They have homemade soups, along with a menu full of the kind of food you actually want when you’re going to a neighbourhood pub.

I’ve personally stopped there for dinner when I’m in the area, and that’s one of the reasons I feel comfortable recommending the place.

It’s not just a project I worked on for school. I’ve actually been there.

The Creative Part

I was involved in a little bit of everything throughout the project, but naturally, I gravitated toward the creative side.

That’s the part of marketing I love most.

I enjoy taking a strategy and figuring out what it should actually look and feel like.

• What would the social media look like?
• What should the videos feel like?
• How do we show the owners naturally instead of making everything feel staged?
• What would a billboard look like from the highway?
• How can we make someone scrolling through Instagram stop and actually remember the restaurant?

Those are the questions I enjoy answering.

And this project gave me a chance to take the strategy we developed and turn those ideas into something visual.

Building Something That Was Missing

One of the biggest things we identified was something that might sound simple:

The Last Shot needed a website.

For a restaurant, especially one trying to rebuild its online presence, we felt this was one of the most important pieces missing.

Social media is great for showing people what is happening right now. But a website gives people somewhere to go when they want more information.

• The menu.
• The restaurant.
• The events.
• The story.
• The contact information.

Everything in one place.

We developed a concept for what the website could look like, and although it isn’t public yet, the owners have already seen the concept and they loved it.

For me, that’s one of the most rewarding parts of working on a real project. You can have an idea in your head, turn it into a design, show it to a client and hear:

“We love it.”

That’s the moment when you realize your idea isn’t just a school assignment anymore.

It’s becoming something real.

Why This Project Means So Much to Me

The Last Shot Bar & Grill is one of the projects that really connected the dots for me. It started with a college assignment. Then it became a competition. Then we won.

And now I’m getting to help bring those ideas to life through Pixelle Agency.

It also reminded me why I wanted to start my own agency in the first place. I don’t just want to make graphics or schedule posts. I want to understand the business, find the story behind it, and figure out how to make other people see what I see.

For The Last Shot, that story is the people.

And that’s what I hope our marketing can help people see.

Go Check It Out

While this project is still in progress, I’m excited to see where it goes.

And if you’re ever around Thornton, Ontario, I honestly recommend stopping by The Last Shot Bar & Grill and checking it out for yourself.

Grab dinner, sit on the patio when the weather is nice, check out one of their events, or just stop in for a drink and see what the neighbourhood pub is all about.

Because sometimes the best way to understand a brand isn’t through its marketing. It’s by actually experiencing it.

And in this case, that’s something I’m happy to recommend.