TSN kicks off NFL season with fantasy football push

Coors is getting back into NFL coverage in Canada by partnering on the network's Fantasy Football platform.
By Josh Kolm
September 2, 2014

TSN has brought on Coors Light as a sponsor to help push traffic to its fantasy football game for this year’s NFL season, which is also the beer brand’s return to associating itself with the NFL in Canada.

While Coors Light is a brand entrenched with the NFL stateside, this is Coors’ attempt at getting back into the football space in Canada after stepping back five years ago.

The brand is activating by sponsoring the Fantasy Football Update weekly column on TSN.ca by fantasy guru Scott Cullen. The company is also involved with Yahoo Sports’ Fantasy Football platform, with branding and bumpers appearing on creative with more initiative being announced later in September.

“We really wanted to double down on fantasy football this year,” Alistair Senn, brand manager for Coors Light at Molson Coors Canada, tells MiC. “We are the official sponsor of four CFL teams, but fantasy football doesn’t play as big of a role for CFL as it does in the NFL. We see real value in stepping back in to NFL coverage through fantasy, because it take people from being fans of one team to making them love every single game because of players on their team.”

Senn says that there is also value in the mass audience that the NFL provides, which skews more towards a younger, 25- to 34-year-old audience than the CFL does.

TSN’s NFL Fantasy Football League Manager Powered by Coors Light includes a Mystery Football Getaway Experience, where one competitor will be flown to two different NFL playoff games in one weekend, complete with tailgate parties.

Promotion of the new NFL fantasy football program has been developed by Coors, with MEC on media and Leo Burnett on creative. A series of 11 spots have been developed that feature a running storyline of TSN personalities competing with each other in their own fantasy league. The commercials feature Coors branding, such as on the championship trophy brandished by champion Kate Beirness in the first ad. The spots will be broadcast across TSN’s platforms in broadcast and online.

[iframe_youtube video=”HcN71jrXOKs”]