Global travel app Skyscanner has installed playful billboards in Kitchener and Hamilton this weekend, supporting homegrown NBA players.

The billboards, each in prominent locations in their respective cities, encouraged locals to travel to Denver (from Kitchener) and Dallas (from Hamilton) to support the homegrown star basketball talent playing in this year’s NBA playoffs who hail from the Ontario cities.

“Hamilton and Kitchener are the hometowns of Canadian NBA stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, respectively,” explains Andre Le Masurier, global head of brand at Skyscanner. “So Skyscanner wanted to encourage Canadians to travel to support their hometown heroes.”

Unfortunately, both Murray’s Denver Nuggets and Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder teams were eliminated from the playoffs this weekend, but Le Masurier says the billboards’ goal was to to have some fun, put a smile one people’s faces, and reach Canadians interested in sports and travel to show there’s more events they can consider traveling for than just a vacation.

“In a 2024 report, we noted gig-tripping emerging as a popular travel trend, where you fly long or short haul to see a band or artist you love,” Le Masurier says. “With that being commonplace, Skyscanner wanted to show Canadians it could be easier and more affordable than they think to travel to support their favourite sports teams or athletes, too.”

The billboards in Kitchener and Hamilton are the Canadian extension of a similar OOH campaign in the U.S., where Skyscanner placed a billboard outside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles advertising flights from Dallas to Cancun. The joke, at the expense of the L.A. Clippers, played off the trends of players jetting off to Cancun following their elimination from the playoffs, and off of the Clippers’ own elimination at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks.

“The billboard in L.A. playfully tapped into an “in” joke for basketball fans and was aimed at fans of the teams rather than individual players,” Le Masurier says. “We noticed lots of conversation around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, and the immense pride Canadians feel for them. We wanted to lean into the hometown element, while also playfully extending the campaign idea.”

The creative for the campaign was created by Courage, and brought to life by the Skyscanner Brand Marketing team, with ad space secured by Rebel & Thorn.