Bronze

CCM Reebok "RBZ Hockey Stick"
Carat (Local)

The launch of a new hockey stick rarely makes headlines unless a major technological breakthrough transforms the user’s experience. This is precisely what CCM Hockey brought to market with its new RBZ product for Xbox. The RBZ hockey stick which integrates the innovative Speedblade technology in the head of the stick, enabling hockey players to accelerate considerably the speed of their shot needed to be introduced to the Canadian market. To that end the media strategy needed to reach a highly solicited target effectively while educating consumers about the unique attributes of the product. The key insight that drove the media platform choice was the result of a study by Xbox which indicated that more than 50% of Xbox NHL 2012 players who play hockey-related games also play hockey in real life. The strategy execution was activated in three phases, creating a Branded Destination Experience within the ‘Hockey Central’ section of Xbox live containing detail around the new Speedblade technology, the second consisted of filming the winner’s experience at the Pro Hockey Summit to create exclusive content for the Hockey Central section. Finally, the third phase was directly tied to the simultaneous launches of the RBZ hockey stick and the NHL 2013 game, the most popular hockey game played on console. CCM Reebok gave all players the chance to obtain for free a virtual CCM-RBZ hockey stick for their virtual avatar, a first in Canada.