How Canadian hockey is quickly becoming a big-screen experience

Hockey fans across the country were treated to a strong Canadian advertising campaign during the U19 World Juniors in Malmo, Sweden over the holidays. One of the brands heavily sponsoring the event was Canadian Tire, offering a message that “we all play for Canada,” even on the international hockey scene.

The Canadian Tire Centre  has been in the process of playing even harder for Canada since Dec. 6, through a deal to deploy 700 interactive screens with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators organization based on Cisco’s StadiumVision system.

“Brands are looking for more activations and ways to advertise. We have over 1.1 million ticketed fans on an annual basis, and we have another two million that will go through the complex,” said Cyril Leeder, president of the Ottawa Senators, at a press conference announcing the project. “I don’t think we are restricted on brands, it’s just a matter of targeting.”

For instance, Leeder pointed out that instead of one bank  advertising at the venue, the ability to serve up different advertisers across multiple screens means a competing financial institution could advertise within the stadium as well.

Through the deployment of the interactive screens, fans will learn lots about some of Canadian Tire’s other companies such as Sport Chek, Hockey Experts and Atmosphere, according to Canadian Tire.

“We have a retail lab….north of Eglinton (in Toronto) at the Sport Chek store where we have been testing a variety of different components related to interactive advertising,” said Landon French, vice-president of sports partnerships for Canadian Tire. “We are going to learn through a venue like this (Canadian Tire Centre)…it is part of a larger movement in our company towards more digital platforms.”

French said the interactive advertising system will create new revenue streams, merchandising solutions, and customized venue usage opportunities for the centre and its partners. Fans will be able to view live event video cost-effectively and there will be customized fan engagement with interactive advertising on every one of the 700 screens specific to the unique needs and timing of each game. For example, screens could be used differently based on where fans are in the arena — those sitting in a box might get shown ads for desserts, while those in the stands get served beer ads.

With so many screens, there is a lot of flexibility, and the Canadian Tire Centre will come more alive for hockey and other events being held there, French said.

Moreover, there are two new full-colour 234-square foot LED screens to be installed at the Canadian Tire Centre’s highway marquee entrance off Highway 417. Fans will get a sneak preview outside of what is to come with the interactive screens inside the building.

The high-definition interactive screens are slowly being installed and expected to be fully completed after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Similar StadiumVision installations can be found within the AT&T Centre (Dallas), Barclays Centre (Brooklyn), O2 (London), Santiago Bernabeu (Madrid), and Eden Park (New Zealand). The clip below shows how Cisco deployed the screens at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. and gives a preview of what Ottawa Sens fans may have in store.