Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Friday night, May 13, 2016, game-changing technology brought the excitement of the Toronto Raptors playoff basketball game off the courts and into the concourse at Toronto’s Union Station.
During Game 6, every time the Raptors made a three-point shot, fans in the GO York Concourse could watch the six digital column wraps display a simultaneous and instantaneous score update triggered by the live event.
“The playoffs are an exciting time in the city and this technology represents a chance to engage fans in a new way,” says Shannon Hosford, vice-president of marketing and communications for MLSE, parent company of the Toronto Raptors. “We look forward to this innovative technology, and others like it, playing an important role in keeping sports fans up-to-date and involved in the game, no matter where they might be in the city.”
“This is a huge opportunity at Union Station, given it is the busiest building in Canada and the hub of Toronto’s main sporting events,” says Adam Butterworth, president of Clear Channel Canada. “If the Raptors keep playing like they did in Game 5, we can really test the robustness of this system.”
Clear Channel Canada is believed to be the first media owner to offer real-time ad hoc content allowing brands to engage with the right audience at the right time in an impactful way.
“We’ve had clients asking us about using dynamic data to activate their brands for a long time,” says Shawn O’Brien, the CEO and founder of Gridcast Media. “And what better way to launch such an exciting new technology than with this year’s Raptors playoff run.”
The project’s technical execution is a joint venture between Gridcast Media and Soho Media. The whole solution is run by Scala,
“This is just the start of what’s possible in the DOOH space,” says Caleb Benoit, Soho Media’s director of operations in North America. “Our technology can leverage many different data feeds—from sports to weather to finance and social.”
The core technology behind the campaign is developed by Soho, using its proprietary InGame.Ad platform, which identifies and tracks key points in data feeds, such as ‘Three-pointers made by the Raptors’. Then when a three-pointer is actually scored during the game, the software instantly triggers special content on a digital screen or billboard, interrupting the current advertising loop in real-time.
By the way, Miami Heat won that game, forcing a final match between the Raptors and the Heat Sunday night, May 15, 2016.
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