Spent hours perfecting your free throws, but still haven’t made the big leagues? Here’s your chance for the pay-off. Problem is, you’ll have to be pretty handy with a hockey stick and a golf club too.

That’s because the top performer in Toronto-based Unilever’s ‘Degree Clutch Challenge’ competition will need to excel at all three activities before he is handed the final prize – a cool $25,000.

Created by Toronto-based promotional marketing agency Segal Communications, the bilingual, national program for the deodorant brand kicked off in June and will end Aug. 30 in Montreal. It consists of three trucks that make pit stops at fairs, festivals and participating retailers across the country. Each vehicle is equipped with a sports-related game, so that guys in the 24-to-35 demo (and secondary target 35-to-40) can show off their skills either sinking a free throw, taking a slapshot or making a putt.

According to Baron Manett, director of client development at Segal, the initiative supports Degree’s ‘kicks in – in the clutch’ positioning. ‘Sports was a wonderful medium, where everyone could understand the need for deodorants,’ he says. ‘We tried to pick sports where, whether you were a novice coming by or a player, you would understand the idea of making a clutch shot.’

Participants are offered trial-size samples of the anti-perspirant, as well as a 50-cent-off coupon, so that redemption could be measured. E-mail addresses will also be collected, so that players can get regular updates – consumers can sign up on-site. Manett won’t share how many e-mail addresses are on the list so far, but says that during the first 23 stops, 2,000 Canadians took a go at the challenge.

‘We wanted to take the TV message and support it at the ground and retail,’ he says. ‘The idea is to spread the word and create integrated association with the brand – once you participate and have a good experience, you have a chance to buy the product.’

Six top performers will be chosen to face off in the finals; they will be flown to Montreal, where they will battle each other in all three sports at a special arena to be set up on hopping Crescent Street, which will be closed between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. to accommodate the event.

‘[Our Quebec office] produces the F1 festival for the Grand Prix in Montreal, and we have a great relationship with city officials,’ says Manett. ‘We have a track record for producing events there.’

The ‘Degree Clutch Challenge,’ is also being supported by radio remote – local DJs will inform listeners where the tour will land in their region – posters and in-store P-O-P, as well as TV spots, which will run on TSN Sportscentre and RDS Sports 30 the week of Sept. 15.

The latter will consist of top plays from the finals, just as if they are regular sports highlights, in addition to scenes from the awards ceremony. All creative was developed by Segal.