Sport Chek begins Olympic campaign
By Adnews Staff
Sports equipment retailer Sport Chek has begun an Olympic-themed campaign tied to its sponsorship of the Canadian Olympic team. The campaign, called "#whatittakes," was developed by Sid Lee of Toronto. According to Sport Chek, this is the largest marketing campaign in the company's history.
Television creative broke during the broadcast of IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. The 60-second commercial focuses on individual athletes in training. The campaign also includes digital and print advertising, along with product sponsorships, a contest component and employee engagement.
A social media element will begin as the games approach, consisting of exclusive content about the athletes distributed through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Sport Chek will also use its YouTube channel to attract sales with links embedded in its videos that will allow viewers to buy products seen in the ad. According to the company, this is the first time this feature has been used in Canada.
The campaign features snowboarders Mark McMorris and Maëlle Ricker, hockey players Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and Meaghan Mikkelson, skiers Chris Del Bosco and Erik Guay, speedskater Charles Hamelin, bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, and skeletonist Jon Montgomery.
"At Sport Chek, we want to inspire Canadians to live a healthy, active lifestyle and there is no better source of inspiration than the stories of our Canadian Olympic athletes and their journey to the podium," said Frederick Lecoq, marketing vice-president of FGL Sports. "With the 2014 Olympic Winter Games just under three weeks away, Canadians are starting to get geared up for Sochi and are looking to get immersed in the storylines of the upcoming games. This campaign features great behind-the-scenes digital content that we are running on our social channels so Canadians can really get to know what makes these athletes succeed."
Media buying for the campaign was conducted by Touche, with public relations support from North Strategic. Sport Chek is a division of FGL Sports, which is a subsidiary of Canadian Tire.