Sports nutrition drink maker BioSteel Sports has partnered with theScore on a multi-faceted marketing campaign that includes a contest complemented by custom content and rich-media ads on the media company’s flagship app.
The sweepstake-based contest is offering a January trip to Dallas to watch BioSteel-sponsored athletes Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Seguin play for their respective teams, followed by a meet-and-greet with the Canadian stars.
Tyler Cameron, sales director for theScore in Toronto, said contests on theScore app have traditionally performed “really well,” with previous contests for the likes of Reebok and Frank’s Hot Sauce attracting tens of thousands of entries.
The marketing program also includes custom content in the form of a recurring feature called “The BioSteel performers of the week,” as well as content aligned with specific games featuring BioSteel-sponsored athletes and teams.
TheScore is also running BioSteel ads on pages dedicated to the company’s sponsored athletes, such as Edmonton Oilers rookie Connor McDavid, Seguin and Wiggins. The latter two are among the top 20 most followed athletes on the app in Canada, said Cameron.
The program coincides with BioSteel’s recent expansion into the ready-to-drink category after spending the first five-and-a-half years of its existence in the powdered drinks category.
“It was always a goal of ours that when we picked up the brand recognition, some market share and achieved authentic consumer demand that this is something we would do,” said BioSteel president John Celenza. “The timing was right so we decided to ramp up and get it done.”
While BioSteel’s core customer is males 18-35 who are part of the growing active lifestyle segment, Celenza said its female customer base is “really starting to pick up” as awareness of the product increases.
Celenza said the “majority” of North American professional sports franchises are now purchasing the BioSteel product, despite the fact sports nutrition drink giant Gatorade has league-wide deals in place. “A lot of times they’ll get that stuff for free and then end up buying BioSteel and putting it in those other companies’ bottles,” said Celenza.
Unlike other sports nutrition drinks, which have been referred to as “Kool-Aid for adults,” BioSteel’s products are all natural with no added sugar or preservatives. It’s distinctive bright pink colour, which is derived from natural red beet power, has led to the slogan “Drink the pink” featured on its ready-to-drink bottles.
TheScore app garnered more than 210 million monthly average user sessions in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 50% increase over the corresponding year-earlier period. Revenue for the quarter was $2.9 million, a 63% increase over the previous year, driven largely by growth in its direct sales and programmatic ad business.
