There are a lot of chicken wings in this world, but Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner only eats the right ones.
The punch line to the latest SkipTheDishes campaign plays with Marner’s position on the ice as a friend notices the right winger being oddly picky about which wings he is eating.
The campaign was developed by McCann Toronto and features creative specific to Ontario, as well as social and digital work that is rolling out nationally and will be placed contextually on channels popular with hockey fans, including TheScore, Spotify and Twitch. The first creative began rolling out last week for the start of the NHL season, but kicked off in earnest on Wednesday with a Twitch live stream featuring Marner.
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It wasn’t a big leap to “dramatize the connection” between chicken wings, an iconic “hockey food,” and the left and (in Marner’s case) right wing positions in the game itself, say creative team Jon Dick and Olivia Hashka. But by doing so, the agency is aiming to “lean into the anticipatory moment before the game starts” so that it can help build Skip’s reputation as a leading delivery service, adds creative leads Athina Lalljee and Jayme Fairbridge.
Though this campaign is specific to the brand’s NHL partnership, it can be connected to their “Did Somebody Say?” global platform that has featured celebrity musicians Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry in ads that were made to look more like music videos. This iteration of the platform is an example of the platform’s adaptability to different audiences. It also builds on past efforts by the food delivery brand to own the pre-game moment for hockey fans, which it has long identified as a target audience.
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“We know that part of the hockey experience is the food that brings us together on game day,” says Cheryl Radisa, VP of marketing at SkipTheDishes. “These new spots highlight our sentiment of delivering joy to Canadians and we’re thrilled to be part of those game day food rituals.”
The new campaign will be in market through the 2022-23 NHL season, wrapping up in April.
