The Winnipeg Football Club’s box office sales have always been strongly influenced by game day weather and team performance. For the 2009 season, the club charged MCG with converting perennial fair-weather fans into devoted season ticket holders the club could rely on for attendance stability. We launched a teaser and reveal guerilla-marketing blitz throughout the city to rally fans to buy season tickets and become members of The Blue Revolution.

Teaser Campaign

Outdoor Projections

To kickoff the teaser campaign and generate buzz for The Blue Revolution, we projected grainy recruitment videos against buildings in nightlife hotspots.

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Radio

Live radio spots featuring local sports announcers were hijacked by unknown revolutionists bent on spreading the group’s message.

Billboards

Fake billboard and print ads were defaced with a blue handprint to create the illusion that a hidden underground movement was subverting the city’s media.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Campaign Reveal

Billboards

The campaign reveal showed youthful Bomber fans proudly raising their incriminatingly blue ink-stained hands and encouraging others to join The Blue Revolution. The billboard reveal was supported by posters, print ads, radio and the campaign microsite.

Website

All the ads drove to a campaign microsite branded with The Blue Revolution look and feel. The website engaged fans and linked to an online season ticket purchasing portal.

Click to Visit Site

Print ads

Game day ads continued where the season ticket campaign left off, using the blue handprint to deface caricatured avatars of visiting teams.

Experiential

The campaign carried into the game day experience, with the icon handprint appearing on everything from beverage cups to play clocks. Season ticket holders were even invited to leave their blue handprint on a field-level wall.

Results

Despite a very trying season for the team on and off the field, the campaign helped keep ticket sales steady – within one per cent of 2008. The momentum of the Blue Revolution carried into the next season, which saw 17,000 season tickets sold a month earlier than forecast. That year, MCG also launched the team’s social media presence, which generated over 8,800 Facebook likes in one season.