Thermal Discount
FGL Sports ltée (Sports Experts)
Issue 46 | March 2018
Agency
Rethink, Montréal
Creative Team
Creative National Creative Directors Chris Staples, Ian Grais Creative Director Nicolas Quintal Copywriter Xavier Blais Art Director Maxime Sauté
Production Team
Production Production Company NovaFilm Director David Poulin Production Alexis Dubosc Director of Photography Maxime Valsan Creative Tech Cortex Studio
Other Credits
Other Strategic Lead Pascal Routhier Account Manager Alexe Dupont Account Director Alex Lefebvre
Date
November 2017
Background
Sports Experts was one of Canada's largest sporting goods retailers. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017, the brand wanted to generate top-of-mind awareness and brand affinity. The idea was to try to create a participative challenge in the physical world, which could be filmed and amplified as a piece of content online.
Idea
The creative execution of this idea was the first thermal imaging station in the world that measures body temperature and rewards subway commuters accordingly.
This was positioned at the top of the longest flight of stairs in any of Montreal's subway stations, where 95% of subway users preferred the escalator. Those who did use the stairs had their body heat measured at the top by the Thermal Discount Scanner. The hotter the body, the greater the discount, neatly encapsulated in, 'The more you sweat, the more you get'.
For example, a 13% temperature measure (relative to designated benchmarks) would translate into a 13% discount at Sports Experts while a 70% measure would mean bigger savings.
Results
Only 24 hours after its launch on Facebook, the Thermal Discount had generated more than one million impressions, 500,000 views and over 10,000 comments and shares. The engagement rate was eight times higher than the platform's average and more than 50% of the reach was generated organically. Moreover, the idea was covered by a few major news outlets and blogs, thus amplifying the reach.
Our Thoughts
That's what I love about technology. It isn't all about screens. It's about getting people to become active participants in your ideas. In this case, extremely active participants.
The Drum has reported that experiential marketing spend is set to increase by 50% over the next couple of years and it's not hard to see why. It's how consumers get personally involved in the brand, learn about its values and get to share a moment with it that will live longer in the mind than any piece of impersonal, mass-media communication. A live brand engagement like this is one-to-one rather than one-to-many. Now, you might think that means only a few thousand people get to learn about Sports Itée but never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. If the idea is interesting enough or amusing enough, people will talk about it. To their friends, on TV, on the radio. And suddenly, your one clever machine has reached millions.