ScotiaBank
ScotiaSkaters

The Goal

As part of its NHL sponsorship, the Scotia Skaters program is a contest that gives a child the opportunity to lead their hockey heroes onto the ice and skate with their home team’s flag just before the game starts. The goal of the campaign was to increase brand visibility while driving registrations for the contest. The biggest challenge was to achieve this goal with a limited budget of only $100,000.


Quebec is a challenging market for Scotiabank, where its retail footprint is limited. Scotiabank’s primary target is adults between 25 and 54 years but for this particular campaign, the financial brand targeted Hockey parents: adults with kids who plays hockey, with a clear focus in Quebec.

The Insight

Every kid who plays hockey in Quebec dreams of playing for the Montreal Canadiens. Parents also used to dream to play for that team that’s why they are so involved in their child’s hockey career. With that insight in mind, the strategy was to integrate the brand and the contest during key moments where young hockey players and their parents were together. Therefore, the agency leveraged the contest on television during the Saturday hockey night, as this is the perfect timing to reach parents watching the Montreal Canadiens with their child. The objective was to showcase the young skaters as much as possible, in order to appeal to a parent’s pride and create an emotional reaction.


The Plan

Creativity was key for this campaign, as the team had to maximize this very limited budget. Scotiabank partnered with TVA Sports, official NHL TV broadcaster in Quebec, in order to create a new customized feature showcasing the young skaters. The agency created minute-long integration just before the game in order to introduce the Scotia Skater with a live interview, just like a real hockey player. Andy Mailly-Pressoir, the anchor, made skaters shine just before they got on the ice to raise the flag. Then, the camera followed the child onto the ice. While he skated with the flag, a lower third was displayed in-show, inviting viewers to enter the contest. Afterwards, a live interview was posted on Facebook to capture the emotion of the moment. Every fan of the TVA Sports Facebook page got a notification to announce that the live video was starting. This footage was also integrated on Scotiabank’s Facebook page. This brand integration was customized for Scotiabank and was a real challenge to execute, as everything was live.

The Results

Scotiabank stood out from the competition by showing to Quebecers that they have a lot in common: hockey is a part of them and they both want to help kids realize their dream. The TV integration reached more than 2.5M hockey fans in Quebec while Facebook Live generated more than 146,000 completed views. Results were outstanding, as unique entries for the contest increased by 82% during the campaign. Moreover, more parents were happy to see that Scotiabank can give their child a chance to jump on the Montreal Canadien’s ice.