In the lead-up to the CFL Argonauts' first season at BMO Field this year, the club "plans to plaster" Toronto with ads "on TV, radio, bus shelters and more -- hoping to boost ticket sales to games at the team’s new home," according to Morgan Campbell of the TORONTO STAR. The ad campaign is part of a broader brand makeover "aimed at making the team relevant again." Overtaking one of the city’s Big Three pro sports franchises -- the Maple Leafs, Raptors and Blue Jays -- "might not be realistic." But Argos execs think a renewed marketing buzz "could propel the club to a less-distant fourth place in local fans’ minds." Outdoor ads are set to "appear this week in the neighbourhood surrounding BMO Field." It is "nearly impossible for the club to have a smaller footprint than they had last season, when the Pan Am Games kept the Argos away from their home field until August." The team's absence from its home "had a drag on attendance." Argos Senior VP/Business Operations Sara Moore said that the club "conducted extensive market research before embarking on its marketing program." She said that younger adults "routinely reported being open to embracing the Argos if the club could deliver an engaging game-day experience." To craft a campaign that "speaks to the cherished 18-to-34 demographic, the club enlisted Bensimon Byrne, the same Toronto-based ad agency that oversaw the CFL’s re-brand late last year" (TORONTO STAR, 5/17).
NEW BEGINNING: In Winnipeg, Kirk Penton noted the Argos' campaign signifies a "brand new beginning for North America’s oldest pro franchise." Argos President & CEO Michael Copeland on Monday said, "This is a real effort to bring the Argonauts brand out to the forefront and return it to the stature that it has experienced previously." He added that it will be a brand campaign "the likes of which this city hasn’t seen for probably a couple decades." Copeland and his team "are doing everything they can to put the fun back in Argos football." Copeland: "We can’t just rest on the stadium alone. While it is going to be spectacular, it’s everything we’re doing around the stadium that’s really going to augment it for us this year. And that begins with tailgating" (WINNIPEG SUN, 5/17).
