Young hockey teams with stellar on-ice skills and a knack for producing great social media content could end up being “a Leaf” for the day, thanks to a competition from two top sports brands.
Now in its second year, “Storm the Centre” from clothing brand Under Armour and the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, seeks to engage young teams in the Greater Toronto Area.
The ultimate prize: a game at the Air Canada Centre and a meeting with Toronto Maple Leaf Phil Kessel.
Corey Friesen, director of marketing with Under Armour, said the program is about building brand loyalty at grassroots level.
“We were brainstorming with the MSLE about how to really engage young athletes when we came up with this. Having access to the Leafs and the Air Canada Centre brings another dimension to it. It’s not just a fan day or a training camp,” Friesen said.
The social media aspect of the competition is hugely important. Competing teams must complete tasks over six weeks that will be documented through a series of web and photo challenges, promoted using a team hashtag, for which they gain points.
“Teams that get through to the next level are those that are really engaging with the brand,” Friesen says. “They have to submit videos and pictures of their team work and build a community. One of the nicest spin-offs we heard from coaches last year was them saying ‘we didn’t win but it was great for the team, for team building.’”
Friesen said the brand also learned from last year’s experience.
“We wanted to cast the net wide and engage a wide age range, from bantam to teens. We were interested to see who would do better, the older kids who can operate smart phones and know the social media game versus younger age. We found the bantam age engaged much more thoroughly, so this year we limited it to that group.”
The firm has struck a similar partnership with the Montreal Canadiens starting for the first time this year. “It will be the same in that we are reaching out to young teams and the end prize is to get them into the NHL arena and on the ice.”
