Swiss ice hockey team ZSC Lions brought to life the idea that ‘If you can’t bring your fans to the ice, bring the ice to your fans in a literal way with its pandemic response ‘Essence of Lions’ initiative.
When the pandemic forced the Swiss government to ban fans from sports events back in March 2020, the Zurich-based hockey team’s 4,000 season ticket holders cold no longer see live games at the arena, so the ZSC Lions teamed up with agency Serviceplan Suisse on a project to literally bring the ice to the fans.
The ‘Essence of Lions’ project saw the marketers melt ice from the ZSC Hallenstadion rink and fill 15ml gift bottles of the ice water which were then distributed to the club’s 4,000 season ticket holders as a memento of the ’2020/21 Silent Season’ as a thank you for their continued support.
The symbolic liquid gift, which was mailed to fans, was explained an promoted through a supporting online video along with additional content which featured players and management reflect on the challenges of the past year and looking forward to reuniting with the fans.
As well as acting as a collectible memento, the club also mad ea series of fun suggested uses for the rink water: such as baptising baby ZSC Lions fans, reviving struggling house plants, cleansing rooms of evil spirits and even cleaning and polishing sports trophies.
“With a few icy drops, this project warmed the hearts of fans in difficult times,” explained Serviceplan Switzerland Chief Creative Officer Raul Serrat. “As a creative, this is what I take the most pride in: creating work that inspires and reminds people of what really matters to them.”
The ‘Essence of Lions’ campaign was created for ZSC Lions Chief Marketing Officer Roger Gemperle and Marketing & Sponsoring Manager Louis Huber by a team at creative agency Serviceplan Switzerland which included Chief Creative Officer Raul Serrat, Chief Creative Officer Pam Hügli, Executive Creative Directors Marcin Baba and Micha Seger, Creative Director Michael Kathe, Copywriters Henry Clarke and Peter Liptak, with Art Directors Nadja Tandler and Tizian Lienhard, Account Handler Nicolas Gspan, with FFF/Art Buyer Nathalie Jakober and Producers Carmen Anderegg and Denise Goldmann.
Production was run through Signorell GMBH with Director Riccardo Signorell, Director of Photography Luca Keller, Camera Assistant Gian Kober, with lighting by Oliver Geissler, Assistant Director Giorgi Sakhhelashvili, plus Manolo Zacate and Neel Sandel.
Comment:
As it is for so many sports team, season-ticket sales are a key pillar of club funding and the ZSC Lions are no exception. So one part of the objective behind the campaign was to inspire fans to renew their tickets for the following season.
There are echoes here of the Minnesota Wild’s 2017 ‘This Is Our Ice’ campaign, but this pandemic initiative is none the worse for that.
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