Montreal is currently fixated on two major developments: the federal election and Ivan Demidov’s high-profile arrival at the Montreal Canadiens. Seizing this momentum, Warrior, Demidov’s exclusive partner, has introduced a targeted campaign designed to position the brand as a cultural authority in hockey, rather than just a gear and apparel provider.
In partnership with its creative agency K72, the brand installed 93 signs throughout the city to welcome Demidov. The signs are designed with the aesthetics of federal election campaign posters. The OOH amplification coincided with Demidov’s first game with the Habs at the Bell Centre, as well as his first formal media appearance. The OOH ads were supported by social media and earned media.
Sacha Ouimet, Warrior’s global marketing and creative director, tells MiC that the team made a strategic decision to reallocate the budget for this campaign and rethink its media mix. With a lean budget in place, Warrior pivot away from traditional media buys and instead focused on generating earned media and sparking word-of-mouth conversations, capitalizing on the significance of hockey in Montreal to drive organic engagement.
Ouimet says the campaign had an immediate impact on sports and news media and countless influencers. “It wasn’t a massive media investment. In fact, 99% of the return was organic,” he says.
Rather than prioritizing broad reach, the brand focused on creating depth and fostering meaningful connections with the target audience, drawing on familiar political cues, street-level imagery and a distinctly local tone to create an authentic, grassroots feel. The campaign’s idea was to celebrate the athlete’s arrival with the locals but the posters spoke to both the Canadiens as a team and the Canadiens as a nation and that made it sink in even deeper, Ouimet says.
“This campaign prioritized cultural relevance over traditional reach. Instead of chasing impressions, we focused on creating one that sticks,” he says. “We built the buzz from the street up, starting local, knowing it would echo globally.”
Ouimet says this approach was particularly effective in Montreal, where emotional connection, pride and identity are paramount – more so than in any other North American market. Demidov’s signing has also transcended sports, becoming a cultural phenomenon in Quebec where hockey is deeply ingrained in the local identity.
“In Quebec, hockey isn’t a sport, it’s sacred. Demidov was being hailed as the savior of the franchise, and we leaned into that with a local lens,” Ouimet says, adding that Montreal serves as a strategic ground for the brand and Demidov’s arrival has sparked a national and international spotlight on the market.
For this campaign, Warrior target wide-ranging hockey enthusiast community in Quebec, from elite athletes and league players to grassroots fans. Ouimet says winning over this audience is mission-critical for the brand, which has been prioritizing loyalty-building and category growth. By resonating with this diverse group, the company aims to establish a strong foothold in the market, he says.
The campaign also coincides with Warrior’s current positioning and “BreakThroug” platform, which embodies the brand’s ethos of pushing boundaries and seizing opportunities. However, Ouimet says this initiative represents an evolution in execution, with a more refined, amplified, and localized approach that marks a significant step forward for the brand.
“We didn’t buy attention, we earned it. This campaign was built by people, not budget, and that’s exactly why it broke through,” he says.
