Sport Chek hacked Facebook Live. By gamifying the platform, it created a first of its kind live-athletic competition: Chase the Gear.

The event tapped into the Olympic spirit—when people feel inspired to get active— challenging them to join a game of capture the flag for free gear.

The catch? We gave the flags to Olympic athletes.

Runners found flags by using Facebook Live. People online engaged too, unlocking “power-ups” for the Olympians, playing trivia and spotting hidden coupon codes throughout the course.

We invited running crews and influencers to participate and hype the event before and during it.

By making Facebook Live athletic and competitive, Sport Chek effectively turned social activity into physical activity.

One week prior to the Chase

- Launched pre-promotion across various digital platforms including paid posts

- Released a teaser video across social, in Sport Chek stores and Good Life gyms

- Created a Facebook event

- Created display banners.

- Launched radio ads

- Olympic athletes promoted event on local radio and morning shows

During Live event

- Invited local Toronto radio station to broadcast live

- Captured footage live using a mountain biker, three triathletes, stationed cameras and a drone

- Mapped out undisclosed course for our three Olympians, forcing chasers to use Facebook Live to track them

- Created custom backpacks worn by Olympians equipped with tags

Live broadcast:

- Satellite truck with multi-feed editing bay for real-time editing and graphics

- Color commentator helped viewers follow along

- Presented prizes (Adidas gear).

- Amplified event with social-media-connected branded photo booths

Chase the Gear reached 6.7M people, with over 10,000 unique viewers. The teaser was viewed more than 636,568 times. 612,608 unique people took actions within the campaign.

Over 200 runners showed up to the park. Online, at peak time the event had 361 viewers watching Live.

Overall, Sport Chek effectively engaged over 1.5M

The campaign was hailed as a success, both by Sport Chek and Facebook. We effectively helped Sport Chek target an untapped audience (millennials) by using an emerging technology on social media.

The brand generated awareness of the Olympic Sponsorship with 10.6M impressions.

We also effectively drove trial of partner Adidas’ High Performance Collection – designed and developed specifically for Team Canada at the Rio Olympics. Which, as we know from research, will change habits and get people active long after the event ended.