Agency Wars, the ad industry’s boxing fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Toronto and NABS, is set to have another knockout year.
The fourth edition of the event, which takes place Nov. 27 at Toronto’s Arcadian Court, has signed on a number of new sponsors and introduced new ways to raise funds.
This year, 24 fighters will compete on two teams (red and blue), evenly split between men and women. Aside from the rigorous training the boxers have undergone, they’ve each been tasked with raising $1,000 for Ronald McDonald House Toronto. So far the teams have already raised more than $10,000, said event producer Kristina Ejem of K Jem Productions.
The fighters recently visited Ronald McDonald House, where they met some of the kids and did a little workout with them, said Ejem. “I think that spurred a couple of them to get a little more.”
Additional funds will be raised for NABS with the sale of blue and red team bracelets at the event.
On the sponsorship front, Adidas has come on board as equipment sponsor through Canada Fighting. Returning sponsor Fight Network will air a three-hour broadcast of the event on Boxing Day. Those sponsors, along with media sponsor Marketing, are in the “middleweight” sponsor category.
In the “lightweight” sponsor category, Rocket Fuel and Vega Sport have come on board, as well as returning sponsor TA2. New sponsors Ad-Dispatch and Grassroots Advertising have signed on in the “featherweight” category. Shauna Ireland PR is the PR sponsor.
Ejem said last-minute sponsorship opportunities are still available for this year’s event.
As for the Nov. 27 event itself, organizers have announced that the big night has been sold out of its 700 available tickets. To engage that sell-out crowd, Agency Wars has launched an app for iPhone and Android that allows people to vote for their favourite boxer to become the “people’s champion.”
Agency Wars was conceived in 2010 by Michael Clancy, creative director at One Advertising, and owner of Clancy’s Boxing Academy, which provides the training and coaching for the event. There is talk of Agency Wars Montreal happening in the near future, as well as an eventual Toronto vs. Montreal event.
