Though not an official sponsor, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is promoting its Pro-Line game during the FIFA 2010 World Cup with a soccer-themed campaign.
The effort from The Hive includes print, out-of-home, in-bar and online, and is the first campaign from the Toronto-based agency since winning the lottery account over a year ago.
One of the executions includes fans wearing a variety of colours representative of their favourite teams in tandem with three neighbourhood-centric and game-specific ads, which were placed by MBS media.
For instance, an ad featuring the Brazil and Portugal teams will run June 25, the same day as the match, explained Simon Creet, vice-president, chief creative officer at The Hive.
Aside from Olympic hockey, there aren’t many things that get people this emotional about sport, said Creet.
“We wanted to bring the colour and pageantry and festivity of the event itself as well as the emotion of the individual fans that get way into the game,” he said.
Because the OLG isn’t an official sponsor of the World Cup the copy reads: “Bet on the world’s greatest soccer tournament.”
“It’s one of those things you can’t say but everyone knows what you’re talking about,” said Creet.
In May 2009, the OLG named six agencies to its creative agency pools to work on the lottery brand and corporate marketing portfolio.
In addition to The Hive, they include: DraftFCB, Due North, MacLaren McCann, Taxi 2, and Young & Rubicam.
The Hive is currently working on a brand campaign that is set to launch later this year to coincide with hockey and football seasons.
