Seems Montreal is as tennis-mad right now as Toronto, thanks to the ongoing Rogers Cup tournament, and even the National Bank isn’t immune. Yesterday, to promote its status as the presenting sponsor of the matches, the bank set out to attract a flash mob in downtown Montreal. Meanwhile, 40 nubile female ‘tennis ambassadors,’ clad in National Bank-branded gear, were to sprint around handing out 100 pairs of tickets for a match at Uniprix Stadium.
The bank’s senior manager of marketing, Johanne Denneny, explained that the initiative was prompted by ‘the human marketing approach (which) is a fast-growing trend in major European and Asian cities. It involves gathering a group of people to perform similar actions in order to create a powerful visual effect. By using this approach, the bank is reaffirming its reputation for avant-garde advertising strategies.’
National Bank committed to developing the growth of tennis in Quebec in 2005, when it signed a five-year partnership agreement with Tennis Canada to sponsor the Montreal edition of the Rogers Cup and to support numerous events throughout the province to help young hopefuls develop their careers. These include establishing the Excellence Fund, awarding $50,000 in annual bursaries.
