Outside of the Toronto Raptors’ players and senior management, perhaps nobody was more anxious about the outcome of the team’s Game 7 clash with the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs than Charles Gélineau.
An account director with media agency Touché!, Gélineau was in charge of a campaign on behalf of sports retailer Sport Chek that was directly linked to the game’s outcome – going live only if the Raptors won.
As soon as the final buzzer sounded in Sunday’s 89-84 Toronto victory at Air Canada Centre, Gélineau gave Astral Out-of-Home the go-ahead to flip the switch on a campaign celebrating the franchise’s first series win since 2001 (as well as its first-ever triumph in a best-of-seven series).
Less than four minutes after the game’s conclusion, 10 digital billboards around the city lit up with an image of point guard Kyle Lowry and the message “Bring on Round 2.”
The billboards – four alongside the Gardiner Expressway and the rest scattered throughout the downtown core – also featured the hashtag #WeGotNow, tying in with the basketball-themed platform Sport Chek launched in tandem with February’s NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto.
Erika DeHaas, associate vice-president of marketing for FGL Sports in Calgary, said the marketing initiative reflected the company’s commitment to what she described as “real time, right time” marketing – something the brand strives for on its social media channels.
“Now more than ever it’s so vital for brands to remain relevant to their audiences within the moment,” said DeHaas. “It allowed us to be part of the celebration that we knew would be happening in Toronto.”
Touché! began negotiating with Astral after the Raptors took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series with a stirring come-from-behind win April 26. The first attempt to take the series a few days later was thwarted when the Pacers downed Toronto 101-83 win at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, forcing a decisive seventh game.
Sport Chek purchased all of the available impressions on the 10 boards between the game’s conclusion and midnight on Sunday, and 60% of the impressions on Monday. It is the first time Astral has launched a billboard campaign that directly reflects a specific result.
SportChek kicked off a 10-year sponsorship deal with the Raptors in 2014 and kicked off a two-year deal with Lowry last year that includes in-store appearances and Sport Chek-related content.
