Scotiabank Arena – The Heart of the City

As Canada’s largest sports arena, and home to Toronto’s NHL and NBA teams, the ACC is the de facto heart of the city.  In 2017, the naming rights came up for renewal, and Scotiabank and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment struck one of the largest sports-related agreements in the world.  With so much on the line, our objective was clear – accelerate consumer adoption, and get Canadians to stop calling the arena the ‘ACC’ and start calling it ‘Scotiabank Arena’.

We focused on changing consumer habits:

• Updating Triggers – Working with MLSE, we updated every instance and mention of the “ACC”. From the 1,000+ arena and city signs, to social location tags and handles.

• Creating Reminders – Remind Torontonians of the new name at every point on their journey through the city, from Out-of-Home and Transit, to Search, Digital, and Social. We created unique messaging opportunities using trusted local personalities, including popular NHL players, the Leafs & Raptors team mascots, and powerful social influencers.

• Rewarding Behaviour – Scotiabank Arena is in the heart of the city, so we gave out free transit rides to get there. Partnering with Metrolinx, we created the first-ever branded PRESTO card, featuring the new name, and handed out 20,000 cards during the Leafs and Raptors “home opener” games.

Our strategy drove name adoption much faster than anticipated.  After only 4 months, awareness of Scotiabank Arena already matched that of the Rogers Centre (now in its 13^th year), and projections indicated we would reach full adoption in just 13 short months, well ahead of our 20-month goal.  The campaign also drove significant increases in core brand metrics, including positive opinion, consideration and unaided awareness.