Everyone comes knocking...Hockey being Canada’s favourite sport, the playoffs are an obvious ‘prime time’ in the restaurant-sports bar set. The fans are listening. It’s the perfect opportunity to advertise. However, there is a downside: the playoffs become a tug of war.Some knock pretty hard...In the Canadian market, some of the biggest players in the competitive set have media budgets that are 5 times higher than Boston Pizza’s, and a big part is spent during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Newcomer Boston Pizza needed to find a way to be heard over these loud and recognised voices.When your name doesn’t help matters...The analysis revealed an added difficulty to an already challenging situation in Quebec: the banding issue. The Boston Bruins are the province’s beloved Montreal Canadiens' arch nemesis, so being called Boston Pizza is a problem, to say the least. To add fuel to the fire, during the first round of the 2011 playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens were going to play against the Boston Bruins. It was the 33rd time the 2 teams were up against each other in the finals - a league record. Boston Pizza had to find a way to be heard over mega players, in what seemed to be the worst context imaginable.

10 billboards were installed. A newspaper ad with the same creative supported the billboard ads. Passing by a restaurant, Habs fans knew immediately that Montreal (Boston) Pizza was theirs. All restaurant names were 'revised' thanks to banners that were hung over the neon sign, and inside all the marketing tools had been rebranded. The staff welcomed clients to Montreal Pizza, and the same went when answering the phone.Hit hard; hit first...A PR campaign on social networks was orchestrated to bring the campaign to life within minutes of its launch. These actions made Boston Pizza the talk of the town in a very short time and helped the rebranded chain capture a special place in the hearts of the fans.

When it was confirmed that the Canucks would face the Bruins in the finals, the campaign just had to be adapted to Vancouver (Boston) Pizza, and the media amplified.

What started with a $20,000 investment worth around 6m impressions, ended up generating 45m impressions across Canada. The campaign created a lot of buzz on social media. On Twitter, Montreal Pizza became a trending topic in Canada, and Vancouver Pizza a trending topic worldwide.

The buzz became strong enough that the campaign made the news on every local radio and television channel, and was mentioned in the papers. National news outlets were next to cover the campaign. In the end, the story was even picked up internationally: both the Montreal and the Vancouver Pizza campaigns were mentioned in famous Sports Illustrated magazine. The campaign got coverage in USA Today, and on ESPN.Not only did Boston Pizza increase in popularity, it became by far the most talked about brand. At the end, sales augmented by 12.48% compared to the benchmark period, according to Same Store Sales Growth.