By Ahmed Dirie

Clutch is making its first foray into major professional sports by partnering with the NHL and it is commemorating the union with a contest that will run during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Clutch, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Toronto, is a vertically-integrated online car retailer for pre-owned vehicles in Canada.

The multi-year agreement is the first time the NHL has had an official online pre-owned car retailer in Canada, as well as Clutch’s first sponsorship of a major sports league, according to Whitney Bell, the company’s VP of marketing..

The deal begins immediately and was put together without an agency by Bell and Mark Titus, manager of business development for the NHL. It also includes opportunities for collaborations on content to be promoted across Clutch and NHL-owned broadcast, digital and social media platforms.

Bell says the Clutch brand will be in camera-visible virtual slot in-ice ads during all 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Final games broadcast on Sportsnet in Canada. Clutch will also be running a contest for tickets through its Instagram and TikTok channels.

Clutch hopes to use the NHL’s brand and visibility to reach the growing number of provinces it operates in.

“There is nothing that connects Canadians quite like our love of hockey so we thought the NHL seemed like a great fit for our first major league sports partnership,” says Bell. “Clutch has expanded across Canada and now services Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. By partnering with the NHL, Clutch is able to grow its brand presence and reach customers and fans in all these locations.”