Great Clips helps the Winter Classic crowd up its fan game.
(Or should we say f-f-fan? ‘Twas pretty f-f-frigid.)
The who-cares-how-stupid-I-look celebration dance. The perfectly timed chest bump. It all looks so easy ‘til you’re balancing 2+ beers and a tray (or 3) of nachos which you’re hesitant to spill since it cost about the same as a semester of college. (We hyberbolize.) But that’s where our NHL Winter Classic activation for Great Clips comes into play, helping sports enthusiasts level up their skill set to achieve Fan Greatness, complete with motivational instructor-slash-former-NHL-player offering a livestream fan-coaching sesh, Peloton-style. Courtesy of Mirror-style technology, the remotely-located coach was able to see and hear fans, calling them out on their sweet throwback jerseys or killer hockey hair.
Housed in a sponsor tent near Target Field that was ohhh, ‘bout 5 whole degrees warmer than outside-outside, the activation took place on the brrr-utally cold Jan 1, and the idea was sparked by current trends like Ted Lasso-esque Positivity, and the tech-driven personal trainer/coaching craze that’s going gangbusters at the moment.
On a higher-level, Fan Greatness is consistent with Great Clips’ brand purpose: to make people look and feel great, and serves as a natural extension of the new campaign, which speaks to the notion that Great Clips has your back in pretty much every situation, from a last-minute interview to a wedding weekend that you spaced on.
Tech-focus, really? Yeah, we meant to do that. For all you who happen to be overpaying for your haircuts elsewhere, allow us to clue you into the fact that Great Clips continues to quietly disrupt the industry with forward-thinking innovations like its online check-in app and cloud-based Clip Notes. With the app, you can check-in, track your wait, and plan your arrival so you go from car to cape in about 3 seconds flat. And Clip Notes is the official keeper of personal preferences, encouraging consistency chain-wide, and eliminating the need for style-‘splaining every time you’re in a new chair.
From a tactical perspective, the activation needed to be scalable and adaptable for other sports/event sponsorships, while requiring minimal staffing. In addition to connecting the brand to the event, it also had to be engaging for fans, buzzworthy and memorable, easily sharable on social media – and realistic to produce in a few short weeks. Whew. Check, check, check (plus 3-4 more checks). Looking forward to rolling it out to upcoming events where we can get away with a few less layers of thermalball and goosedown.