During the Pyeong Chang Winter Olympic Games, Sport Chek wanted to give Winter athletes the bad-ass credit they deserve. Sticking landings after jumping from the height of a 5-story building; flying distances of 200m on 2 pieces of fibre glass; doing 150km/hr in a glorified tin can; jockeying for position in a sea of blades; who would expose him/herself to that level of danger, right? Through its Olympic sponsorship, Sport Chek, Canada’s # 1 Sports Retailer, wanted to salute the courage of our athletes and let Canadians experience the danger these athletes bravely face everyday.

It started with the hijack of the Opening Ceremony broadcast when Team Canada was parading into the Pyeongchang stadium to deliver a ‘disclaimer’ ad that gave viewers the shivers! Then, whether you grabbed your newspaper, went to your favourite news website or turned on your radio on your way to work, there were warnings and alarms reminding consumers of the danger that athletes would be exposed to.

During the Olympics, our mobile video ads had a haptics track, which made devices vibrate when danger was showcased, bringing the intensity of the dangers into consumers’ hands. We used digital billboards to compare speed of cars to that of a bobsleigh in real-time. Interact-and-reveal ads were used to showcase first hand the athlete’s POV.

Touched by their bravery, hundreds of Canadians gathered on Dundas Square to show their support in real-time for our brave athletes, thanks to a unique partnership with Twitter.

On the day of the Opening ceremony only, we delivered more than 66 million impressions, reaching more than 19.3M Canadians, two-thirds of the the whole Canadian population!!!

The Opening Ceremonies full day hijack allowed Sport Chek to win the Olympics SOV battle on day one, a position that was maintained throughout the games. And it was reflected in the level of interaction with the brand: on Twitter, we dominated hashtag use in Canada.

From the Brand lift study, we have seen a 7-point lift in association of Sport Chek with #Whatittakes. The campaign cut-through, moving ad recall for Sport Chek’s association to the 2018 Winter Olympics up by 14 points. An uplift of 4 points was seen in favourability towards Sport Chek.

The campaign was built to stand out in an extremely cluttered ad environment, where consumers are submerged by look-a-like messages. By capitalising on the Opening Ceremony Day to gain share of mind, we were able to break-through. Even if the job was done as of day one, winning the SOV battle, we followed-up with a multi-touchpoint execution. At the forefront: the danger our Canadian athletes would be facing. Sport Chek was a pioneer during the PyeongChang Olympics, putting to market a strategy that would deliver above expectations on brand affinity metrics.

In the context of Olympics, it is very easy to get lost in the sea of classic sentimental ads. Sport Chek needed to stand out to demonstrate its point. It wasn’t only about performance; it was all about the danger. And we had to curate an innovative strategy to allow the brand to convey the message.

It all started on Opening Ceremony Day, when we hijacked all media channels to deliver a warning message to Canadians. The warning message’s purpose was to alert all Canadians about what was about to happen. Starting Day two, and for the remainder of the Games, Sport Chek wanted Canadians to feel the danger of Winter sports. So we crafted media touch points that could put speed, height and distance into perspective.

As a Nordic country, Canada embraces winter. Which is why most people are not surprised when Canadians perform well in the Winter Olympics Games, in fact they expect it. Whether it is Summer Games or Winter Games, it is truly a glorious moment when you make the Olympic podium and are recognized as the best in the world. But, the truth is, there is something really unique to the Winter Games…the level of dangerousness!