2024 Winner
GoldBest in OOH Platforms - Budget Under $100,000
SilverBest in Travel and Tourism
Skyscanner
"Trollboards"
Courage
"Trollboards"
Courage
Skyscanner is a global leader in travel planning, but in North America they are still relatively unknown. To make some noise for the brand, the agency needed to create a moment worth talking about. And come April, there’s nothing creating a bigger buzz in North America than the NBA playoffs.
So, what connects travel and the NBA?
In basketball, ‘Cancun’ is a well known and beloved meme. It started 25 years ago when L.A. Laker Nick Van Exel jokingly blurted out ‘1,2,3… Cancun!’ just before elimination. In the years since, the joke has steadily risen in notoriety and Cancun has become a well established meme in the NBA community. It has become so ubiquitous that in recent years it is regularly referenced in halftime shows, post game interviews and across social media to signal the end of someone’s season.
The insight was to use this travel related piece of NBA culture as Skyscanner’s entry point to connecting with basketball fans across North America.
The agency launched the campaign in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs, starting with the Dallas Mavericks vs Los Angeles Clippers. As the series approached its conclusion, they decided to have some fun
at the Maverick’s expense.
Playing into the well-known joke, they bought the 100ft billboard outside Crypto.com Arena. No NBA logos, no players, no 30 second spot - just a simple, well placed OOH message: ‘Dallas to Cancun. For great flights to Cancun, visit Skyscanner.’
The ad had to be timed, and placed perfectly.
First, the agency had to react to the series in real time, without knowing the outcome. And second, the board was strategically placed next to the pavilion where fans, media, and players gathered before the game. With a simple billboard, they started a conversation.
First ESPN posted it, then Sports Illustrated, then the New York Post, and Fox. It blew up so much, the Clippers actually asked us to take it down.…but not before the campaign took on a life of its own. On Social, fans from both sides made their own versions of the billboard. Dallas fans even showed up to the game with their own home-made versions of our ad.
To follow that up, the agency brought the campaign directly to Canadians. With so many conversations centered around Canadian stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, they wanted to invite fans from their hometowns to travel to support their local heroes. In Shai’s hometown fans were greeted with their own billboards: “Hamilton to Dallas”. In Jamal’s hometown, it was “Kitchener to Denver”.
Finally, to finish what they started the agency officially welcomed Dallas, the last team to get eliminated from the NBA playoffs, to Cancun. They placed a giant billboard in the Cancun airport with the message “Welcome to Cancun, Dallas”. Because a great playoff run deserves a great vacation.
For the NBA champion Boston Celtics, they placed a billboard all along their
championship parade saying ‘Boston to The White House’ – in reference to the longstanding tradition of the winning team going to visit the US President following their win.
Often, OOH is easy to ignore, but the right message, in the right place, at the right time, can transcend any billboard. Without even mentioning the NBA or its players, they were able to hijack the online conversation around the playoffs. Using a physical medium, the agency was able to ignite online engagement and awareness for the brand.
In the first 24 hours the stunt drove over 1 billion media impressions and more than 3.5 million impressions on X (Twitter) – making it Skyscanner’s most successful ad ever.
That same week, Skyscanner saw an 8% lift in travel searches in the US. All with no official sponsorship. Because Skyscanner might not have anything to do with the NBA, but they know
a thing or two about great flights.
So, what connects travel and the NBA?
In basketball, ‘Cancun’ is a well known and beloved meme. It started 25 years ago when L.A. Laker Nick Van Exel jokingly blurted out ‘1,2,3… Cancun!’ just before elimination. In the years since, the joke has steadily risen in notoriety and Cancun has become a well established meme in the NBA community. It has become so ubiquitous that in recent years it is regularly referenced in halftime shows, post game interviews and across social media to signal the end of someone’s season.
The insight was to use this travel related piece of NBA culture as Skyscanner’s entry point to connecting with basketball fans across North America.
The agency launched the campaign in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs, starting with the Dallas Mavericks vs Los Angeles Clippers. As the series approached its conclusion, they decided to have some fun
at the Maverick’s expense.
Playing into the well-known joke, they bought the 100ft billboard outside Crypto.com Arena. No NBA logos, no players, no 30 second spot - just a simple, well placed OOH message: ‘Dallas to Cancun. For great flights to Cancun, visit Skyscanner.’
The ad had to be timed, and placed perfectly.
First, the agency had to react to the series in real time, without knowing the outcome. And second, the board was strategically placed next to the pavilion where fans, media, and players gathered before the game. With a simple billboard, they started a conversation.
First ESPN posted it, then Sports Illustrated, then the New York Post, and Fox. It blew up so much, the Clippers actually asked us to take it down.…but not before the campaign took on a life of its own. On Social, fans from both sides made their own versions of the billboard. Dallas fans even showed up to the game with their own home-made versions of our ad.
To follow that up, the agency brought the campaign directly to Canadians. With so many conversations centered around Canadian stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, they wanted to invite fans from their hometowns to travel to support their local heroes. In Shai’s hometown fans were greeted with their own billboards: “Hamilton to Dallas”. In Jamal’s hometown, it was “Kitchener to Denver”.
Finally, to finish what they started the agency officially welcomed Dallas, the last team to get eliminated from the NBA playoffs, to Cancun. They placed a giant billboard in the Cancun airport with the message “Welcome to Cancun, Dallas”. Because a great playoff run deserves a great vacation.
For the NBA champion Boston Celtics, they placed a billboard all along their
championship parade saying ‘Boston to The White House’ – in reference to the longstanding tradition of the winning team going to visit the US President following their win.
Often, OOH is easy to ignore, but the right message, in the right place, at the right time, can transcend any billboard. Without even mentioning the NBA or its players, they were able to hijack the online conversation around the playoffs. Using a physical medium, the agency was able to ignite online engagement and awareness for the brand.
In the first 24 hours the stunt drove over 1 billion media impressions and more than 3.5 million impressions on X (Twitter) – making it Skyscanner’s most successful ad ever.
That same week, Skyscanner saw an 8% lift in travel searches in the US. All with no official sponsorship. Because Skyscanner might not have anything to do with the NBA, but they know
a thing or two about great flights.
Credits
AgencyCourage Inc
Dhaval Bhatt - Founder + CCO
Joel Holtby - Founder + CCO
Tom Kenny - Partner + CSO
Niki Sahni - Partner + President
Raul Garcia - Executive Creative Director
Derek Mollenhauer - Strategy Director
Zac Smith - Copywriter
Zeina Elshurafa - Art Director
Matt Miller: Associate Creative Director
Tommy Yong: Associate Creative Director
Kyron Sobers - Account Director
Tino Monk - Account Executive
Sunaina Arora - Account Coordinator
Clair Galea - Executive Producer
Dan Rankin: Agency Producer
Marcus Barrie: Editor
Sunaina Arora: Post Producer
Production
Joswin Media
Joswin H. - Photographer
Julian Peter
Client
Skyscanner
Andre Le Masurier - Sr Director, Global Head of Brand & Creative
Carla Sandhu - Global Head of Design Operations (Brand)
Peter Dickinson - Head of Motion
Andy Culbert - Designer
Gemma Jamieson - Senior Manager, Global PR & Communications
Johnny Moran - Global Social Media Manager
Ayoub El Mamoun - Global Social, Comms
James Rose - Principal Producer
Victoria Best - Senior Global Brand Marketing Manager
Media
Rebel & Thorn
Kieran O'Beirne - Principal, Co-Founder
Nicole McCourt - Director, Client Success