Grey Cup Halftime Show
2019
The Grey Cup Halftime show is one of the biggest music events of the year in Canada. In 2019, I was an integral part of delivering our most successful halftime yet.
It all started with a commitment to secure the biggest artist possible and blow away all previous halftime performances and ratings. I collaborated with our partners at Universal Music Canada and TSN to put together a pitch that showcased the immense opportunity that halftime offers. After multiple rounds of options and discussions, we secured Grammy award-winning artist Keith Urban.
I worked with our friends at eTalk, artist management and Universal Music Canada to set up a shoot in Nashville to capture all relevant materials required to announce and promote the show. This included assets for broadcast, social, radio and print. After a short teaser campaign, Keith Urban was announced on eTalk, along with the annoucement of of a half-hour special the week leading up to Grey Cup Sunday.
I provided creative direction to our graphics team, to update the existing polished & shiny
branding package, to one that evoked the more rugged vibe of Keith Urban's country music persona. This was achieved while
maintaining key brand attributes for our halftime sponsors at Freedom Mobile. These graphics maintained consistency throughout all touchpoints of the campaign which ran for 6 weeks leading up to the broadcast and led to an uptick of 46% in traffic and engagement across CFL site and social.
The day before the event, we set up a large-scale media car wash and on-field press conference to drive viewers to the broadcast. I worked with Keith Urban’s video team, who were kind of enough to capture his arrival in Calgary and provide us with a behind-the-scenes clip.
This contributed to the earned media value across print, online, broadcast of 18.4 M the week of the event.
I worked with our production partners at PRP, TSN and Keith Urban's production team in planning and pre-production, to ensure we delivered a truly stunning show. I also oversaw all of the music clearances required to ensure we had secured the most engaging set list possible.
Watch the performance, which attracted an average audience of 4.1 million viewers on TSN. Within hours, it was posted on Keith Urban’s Vevo Channel, reaching fans around the world.