Sports retailer, Sports Experts, launched a fully integrated campaign to recognize all types of athletes, from the unskilled weekenders to more experienced and dedicated athletes.
While the campaign was to generate top-of-mindedness and affinity towards the brand, the activation was meant to engage in the physical world, but also in digital.
Aside from communicating its promise, Sports Experts wanted to create a campaign that would support its brand purpose.
The brand is about motivating and inspiring Quebecers to discover the joy and benefits of an active lifestyle.
Therefore, the initiative was about encouraging people to break a sweat. Deployed October 19th the campaign took place at Montreal’s steepest metro station, Lucien-L’Allier, which is four stories - and almost 200 steps - deep.
The first thermal imaging station that measures body temperature and rewards commuters accordingly, with discounts that increase with body temperature.
During an 8-hour span, hundreds of commuters interacted with the thermal station and won discounts - from 12% to 78% off on selected sports apparel and equipment. The savings were printed on coupons from the booth. Many of the participants (even those who had initially taken the escalator) embraced the challenge and started running or doing push-ups and burpees to increase body temperature. The initiative was captured on film and edited as content for social media. The one-minute video was released on November 13th.
24 hours after its launch on Facebook, the Thermal Discount was Sports Experts’ most engaging piece of social content of the year, generating more 1M impressions, 500,000 views and over ten thousand 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. The sentiment was so positive - and the interest in trying out the device so high - that many franchisees around the province asked Sports Experts to deploy the Thermal Discount in its region. But most importantly, the brand made a few people work out that day.