Kyle Lowry is the latest athlete to ink a sponsorship deal with Sport Chek.
The retailer announced the Toronto Raptor as its newest spokesperson at a press conference hosted on the practice court at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Monday. It marks one of Lowry’s first major brand endorsement in Canada since he joined the team as point guard in 2012 (he also recently helped Unilever Canada launch its line of dry spray antiperspirants).
As part of the two-year deal, Lowry is set to star in a series of Sport Chek ads – the first of which was previewed at the press conference and is due out as soon as this week.
The sponsorship is part of a larger deal Sport Chek’s parent company, Canadian Tire Corporation, struck with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) 18 months ago. That organization-wide partnership has seen the retailer work closely with the Raptors, most recently with its expansive “My North” campaign.
Duncan Fulton, SVP of Canadian Tire Corporation and Toronto Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry, are joined by the Markham-Unionville Basketball Association to officially name Lowry a Sport Chek athlete.
The brand now sees the team as an anchor for its marketing in the Greater Toronto Area, said Sport Chek CMO Duncan Fulton. Initially, Fulton said the brand intended to focus on grassroots efforts before making an investment as large as signing one of the team’s star athletes. However, when the team hit a winning streak in the lead up to the 2014 playoffs, and its “We The North” campaign from Sid Lee took off, Sport Chek decided to double down on its investment.
Six months ago, as Sport Chek went live with “My North,” Lowry’s name started getting tossed around the Sport Chek offices as a potential partner.
“As we started rolling out our campaign, which celebrates grassroots sports, we found ourselves talking about Kyle’s performance,” Fulton said. “We decided after weeks of talking about this inspiring guy that he had to be part of the campaign.”
Basketball is a category that’s growing quickly for Sport Chek and one Fulton said the company expects to “grow exponentially” in the coming months and years. While the current deal with Lowry is slated for two years, Fulton said he thinks it “can go a lot longer than that.”
As for Lowry, the basketball player told reporters at the press conference the deal is a signal of his commitment to Toronto. “For me, getting a sponsorship with a Canadian company means this is home,” he said. “A partnership with a Canadian company means I’m here to stay.
