ION, a TV network known for its crime and justice procedural programming, recently underwent a rebrand, that not only updated its color palette and key art, but also added a slate of women’s sports. What started with broadcasting WNBA games has grown to include the NWSL, accessible to fans without a paywall. To reintroduce ION as a robust entertainment network and continue building its community of sports fans, the brand staged a multipronged campaign that kicked off at Advertising Week New York last month with a panel that featured WNBA legend Sue Bird and executives from the WNBA and NWSL, as well as OOH that promoted its women’s sports programming.
Continuing the momentum, ION popped up in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall in New York City on Oct. 24 with a Fan ConnectION activation made up of four different vignettes. Highlighting the WNBA, a photo op gave attendees the chance to step in front of a hardwood basketball court backdrop and position their hands under rotating basketballs anchored to the wall to create that iconic spinning-basketball-on-the-finger pose. Attendees could also test their basketball knowledge with trivia games and take photos with life-size images of WNBA stars Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
The next vignette was an NWSL-branded “Take Your Shot” soccer field. Enclosed in netting, the condensed field gave attendees enough space to kick a soccer ball into a goal, which was captured on a video that featured the participant’s chosen NWSL team. Fans who kicked the ball into the net received a video of a goal, while those who missed received a video of a goalkeeper save. In the morning, Sue Bird and former pro soccer star Megan Rapinoe visited the activation for fan meet-and-greets and a panel to discuss their career journeys and the explosive growth of women’s sports.
Pivoting from sports to crime dramas, ION developed two interactive experiences. The first was an “FBI” surveillance installation comprising screens across a long wall that played scenes from the show, mixed with live footage from Grand Central captured by various security cameras. The second was a set of interrogation rooms—one branded to “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and the other to “Chicago P.D.”—each with its own décor that fit the police station setting, like filing cabinets, corrugated storage boxes, investigation bulletin boards and a one-way mirror. Sketch artists sat at a metal table and created a sketch of the participants across from them within 30 seconds.
Lastly, at a merch station, attendees who entered their information into a data-capture form received an ION “It’s on” tote bag and an NWSL scarf. Brand ambassadors inside and outside the footprint invited passersby to take part in the experiences.
“We wanted to make sure that the activation felt very lively and that we had video running everywhere since we’re a content network,” says Sherry Pitkofsky, vp-brand strategy and marketing at The E.W. Scripps Company, ION’s parent company. “What I loved about the Grand Central space was that we had a ton of branding throughout, like the big arcs on the wall and the boards around the entire rotunda.”
Hosted from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., the activation capitalized on the bustling commuter traffic throughout the day, plus it coincided with downtown Manhattan’s ticker-tape parade celebrating the New York Liberty’s first WNBA Finals Championship—a perfect tie-in to the pop-up’s focus on women’s sports. More than 1,200 consumers visited the Fan ConnectION, and ION came away with almost 59 million media impressions, Pitkofsky says.
“It’s been an amazing year for women’s sports, and I wish I could say the timing was completely planned, but we went from the NCAA Women’s Final Four with record-breaking ratings that led into the WNBA draft and then into this incredible season. And so at every single touchpoint, we were able to take advantage of it,” she says. “We did earlier in the year with a big event for our upfront, and we realized that we hit our trades and our clients, but we really needed to reach our fans… Having Sue and Megan tied into our campaign of ‘Watch greatness every day’; they’re doing amazing things and breaking boundaries, and that’s the message we wanted to send with this activation.” Agency: Civic.
Photo credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for E.W. Scripps Company
