Scotiabank’s extensive sponsorship of the recent World Cup of Hockey, which included the “Hockey Dreams” spot as well as a free 10-day fan festival in downtown Toronto, helped it become the most visible brand during the tournament, according to research from Solutions Research Group (SRG).
According to SRG, 25% of Canadians noticed Scotiabank on an unaided basis during the event, putting the financial services company ahead of Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, Visa and Rogers in its final ranking of participating brands.
Canadian Tire’s involvement with the World Cup of Hockey, meanwhile, registered higher than its Rio Olympics sponsorship, when the retailer failed to crack the top five. Visa followed up its number one ranking in unaided recall for the Rio Games with yet another top-five finish.
While SRG noted Coca-Cola is a “perennial contender” for top spot in audience recall – including being the second most noticed brand at the Rio Games – its archrival Pepsi’s sponsorship of the World Cup of Hockey propelled it into a strong sixth place in unaided recall.
According to SRG, 68% of Canadians followed at least some of the tournament, which it called a “strong following” for a relatively short event with eight teams. It was short of the audience for this past summer’s Rio Olympics, which was followed by 79% of Canadians.
The audience composition for the World Cup of Hockey mirrored that of the NHL: 69% male. The event also attracted a strong millennial following, with 37% of those who engaged with the event between the ages of 18-34.
The findings are part of SRG’s ongoing Sports Marketing Report, which was launched in 2015 and consists of a series of syndicated research studies on sports event audiences and sponsors’ return on investment for these events. The results are based on 302 national interviews and are considered accurate to within plus or minus 5.6%.
