Activation Type: Outdoor Product Showroom, Retail
Thule is known for vehicle racks and carry systems that help people bring bikes and gear along for the ride, but its product lineup also includes bags, coolers, and products designed for active families.
At the 2026 Sea Otter Classic, Thule needed an outdoor event space that could give those different product categories room to be displayed in ways that made sense for each of them.
The result was a 20'x60' hybrid footprint built from a 20'x20' E-Series tent, an open 20'x20' display area with a custom truss arch and backdrop, and a 20'x20' open truss showroom.
Together, the three spaces created a connected outdoor environment for product browsing, staff conversations, and larger-format displays.
Related Resources: 15 TentCraft-Built Brand Activations That Turned Heads at the 2026 Sea Otter Classic
The Challenge
Sea Otter puts Thule in front of an audience already immersed in cycling and outdoor recreation. That makes it a natural place to show the breadth of the brand's product lineup, but it also creates a few practical challenges for the event space itself.
For Thule, the right setup had to support three priorities:
Create Distinct Display Environments for Different Product Types
Bags, coolers, accessories, bikes, vehicle racks, and carry systems do not all benefit from being displayed in the same way.
Thule needed covered space where attendees could browse smaller products and talk with staff, along with enough open room to display bikes, racks, and larger equipment without crowding everything into one tented area.
Make a Large Footprint Feel Cohesive
Spreading the activation across 60 feet gave Thule useful room to work with, but the different sections still needed to read as one Thule environment.
The booth needed enough visual continuity to connect the covered tent, open middle area, and truss showroom while still allowing each section to serve a different purpose.
Hold Up to the Realities of an Outdoor Event
Wind, dirt, and dust are part of activating at Sea Otter, and Thule specifically considers those conditions when choosing its event infrastructure from TentCraft.
“One thing that we always take into account at events like Sea Otter is the wind and the elements. We have dirt and dust kicking up. So, we want to make sure that we have the most durable and the most easy to use tent products.” - Chris Ritchie
The TentCraft & Thule Solution
Thule's 20'x60' footprint combined three different spatial treatments into one continuous outdoor showroom.
On one end, the 20'x20' E-Series tent gave Thule a covered, retail-style environment for bags, coolers, accessories, active-with-kids products, staff conversations, and supporting displays. The tent was not new for this event, either. According to Chris, Thule has been using the same 20'x20' structure for several years.
“This 20x20 tent we've been using for a few years now. It's been working out really well and, as you can see, holds up to the elements.” - Chris Ritchie
From there, the footprint opened into a second 20'x20' area. Rather than extending the canopy across the entire activation, Thule kept this section open and used a custom 20-foot truss arch and branded backdrop to define the space. The open footprint gave Thule enough room to park a full vehicle within the activation and display its rack and carry systems in the context they were designed for, while the truss arch helped visually connect the E-Series tent to the larger showroom.
The final 20'x20' section used an open TentCraft truss structure for what Chris Ritchie, Marketing Director at Thule Group, described as Thule's “showroom.” Bikes, vehicle racks, carry systems, and other larger products had more open space around them, giving attendees room to see the products and how they fit into Thule's broader outdoor lifestyle lineup.
Branding helped tie those different environments together. Custom fabric walls and backdrops carried Thule's visual identity throughout the footprint, including a lifestyle image from a Thule photo shoot in Squamish, British Columbia. For Sea Otter 2026, Thule also added large logo signage facing both entrance aisles, creating additional brand visibility from either direction.
The value of the hybrid setup was that Thule did not have to force every product into the same type of event space. Smaller merchandise could live in a covered, retail-style environment, larger products had room to breathe in the open showroom, and the middle section provided another flexible display area between the two.
Related Resource: How Electrolit Built a Versatile, Standout Hybrid Sampling Activation with TentCraft
At the same time, the E-Series tent, truss structures, custom graphics, backdrops, and signage kept the full 20'x60' footprint visually connected.
“Thanks to TentCraft for helping us execute a really good consumer event and do it in the most premium way.” - Chris Ritchie
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The Activation and Social Content
