The Toronto Raptors had just been eliminated from the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the sell-out crowd at Air Canada Centre was still loudly chanting “Let’s Go Raptors,” when the message appeared on the TSN telecast: “History made together. Thanks for being all in.”
It was the latest in a string of moment-specific ads created by sports retailer Sport Chek during the Raptors’ stirring playoff run, part of what associate vice-president of marketing Erika DeHaas describes as its “sports moment led” marketing strategy.
“Sports are happening in real-time, so…it’s critical to be real and authentic and in the moment for your consumers,” said DeHaas. “Everything we do has to be tied back to sport, because that’s what makes us who were are.”
Sport Chek and its media agency, Touché!, had devised a media plan that addressed all three possible outcomes relating to the Raptors’ weekend games: A loss in either game six or Sunday’s game seven, or a game seven victory. The media plan covered both TSN and Sportsnet (the latter was set to broadcast game 7 if necessary).
“There’s obviously a lot of conversation happening around the Raptors, and as a proud partner of both the team and Kyle Lowry, we wanted to do something unique and innovative,” said DeHaas of the marketing strategy.
The strategy began with a series of 10 digital boards that lit up around the city within minutes of the Raptors’ game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers in the first round. The boards featured an image of all-star point guard Kyle Lowry, accompanied by the message “Bring on round 2.”
Then, at the end of the team’s game 7 victory over the Miami Heat in Round 2, TSN cameras panned to the Sport Chek store overlooking the “Jurassic Park” area of Maple Leaf Square, where a poster reading “Third round bound in the six” was unveiled.
The ensuing commercial break featured a 60-second brand spot around Sports Chek’s “We Got Now” positioning, while Sport Chek also launched a homepage takeover of TSN.ca and on its own social media channels.
The retailer’s other marketing initiatives during the Raptors’ playoff run included handing out more than 400 red “rally wraps” to fans at Jurassic Park, the area where fans congregated during . The “wraps” mimicked the red shoestring used by the Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan during the playoffs to help alleviate the pain from his sprained right thumb.
“Trying to find the next unique opportunity round by round is something we really wanted to be a part of,” said DeHaas. “We look at content as the new media, so no matter what channel you’re executing in, as long as the content is relevant and truly real-time to the customer, you’re breaking through the noise and creating buzz.”
According to Sport Chek, its real-time initiatives garnered approximately three million impressions in each of the playoff rounds. Meanwhile, sales of Raptors merchandise at its Maple Leaf Square store were up approximately 280% during the playoff run.
The retailer plans to adopt a similar approach to its marketing efforts at the upcoming Rio Games, said DeHaas. Sport Chek parent Canadian Tire Corporation is a Canadian Olympic Committee sponsor.
