Porta Ice

Porta Ice designed the ultimate Canadian product - a mini ice resurfacer - to give a visual, this of a mini Zamboni! The owners, Chris, and Tina-Marie Yenna have travelled the world with Disney on Ice. She was a skater and he perfected the ice. After moving to Calgary from Florida, Chris claimed, “I saw a big demand here in Canada for a portable ice resurfacing unit, so I created this machine.” He noticed there were tons of community rinks, lakes and private backyard rinks that could not be cleaned with a traditional Zamboni due to its size and weight. His “mini Zamboni” design was smaller and lighter which allowed it to get on the ice 6 weeks earlier than a traditional Zamboni and operate 6 weeks later into the season.

Chris came to us with a dream. He had an idea for the mini Zamboni but had no idea how to brand it or market it. Part of the challenge was there was little or no competition.No one knew this product existed, therefore no one was searching for it. Up until now private, smaller rinks would use traditional Zambonis when possible, or reliable on manual ice resurfacing. We were challenged with creating a brand around Chris’s idea and finding a way to market it - just in time for ice season!

This was a passion project, so we worked closely with Chris to create the logo and branding. We used the Porta Ice prototype Ice Resurfacer (the Ice NV) as the inspiration. After establishing the brand direction, we created logo decals to go on the machines, and arranged a photo and videoshoot [you have to see this - https://vimeo.com/520182730] to capture product shots and video of the Ice NV in action! We launched the website and began social media efforts to get the word out. We created product spec sheets that we could share with interested buyers and slowly the media took notice. Chris’s little dream had taken off, and he was invited to Paul Brandt’s Canadian Classic Game to resurface the ice during halftime.