The Ice Hockey World Championships is one of Finland’s most-watched sporting events, attracting millions of viewers and making commercial airtime during the games some of the most sought-after media inventory in the country.
But while fans are glued to the action on the ice, they’re far less interested in what happens during the commercial breaks. That’s when people reach for their phones, grab a snack, or leave the room altogether.
Together with Biltema, Dentsu Creative Finland set out to change that.
Instead of using its airtime for traditional advertising, the team asked a simple question:
What if people actually wanted to watch the commercials and even looked forward to them?
The answer was to transform every TV commercial into a playable mini-game.
During each commercial break, viewers had the chance to win Biltema products in real time. The mechanic was simple: In a retro styled minigame a hockey puck was shot directly towards the viewer. As it approached the screen, it transformed into a QR code. The fastest viewer to scan the code and enter the game won the prize.
Every commercial featured a different prize, and because viewers never knew what they could win next, they had a reason to stay engaged throughout the tournament.
The result was more than 35,000 game plays during the championship, turning what would normally be a moment of distraction into a moment of participation.
By transforming passive advertising into active entertainment, Biltema gave hockey fans a reason to stay glued to their screens even when the game stopped.
“We constantly ask ourselves what the people we’re trying to reach actually want. Nobody wants more advertising. But even when you’re doing advertising, it doesn’t have to feel like advertising,” says Mikael Nemeschansky, Executive Creative Director at Dentsu Creative Finland.
Every game directed viewers to Biltema’s website, generating engagement long after the commercial ended.
“In the end, we believe the campaign generated significantly more traffic and engagement than a traditional TV campaign could have achieved,” says Nemeschansky.
