World’s First Winterized Outdoor Basketball Court

//  02.21.23

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KFC Canada and Toronto PR Agency Narrative Prove Any Season is Bucket Season With World’s First Winterized Outdoor Basketball Court

No one knows buckets like KFC. For decades, Canadians have gathered around KFC’s iconic bucket to share a meal. Now, KFC is rallying Canadians around their shared passion for buckets through basketball in a definitively Canadian way, with the KFCourt, the world’s first winterized basketball court.

While winter is usually considered off season for outdoor courts, KFC believes that nothing should stand in the way of Canadians and their love of buckets. That’s why KFC has created the KFCourt, a winter-friendly basketball court located under one of Canada’s busiest highways, Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway, at The Bentway.

Reimagining KFC’s iconic chicken bucket as a playable NBA Regulation Size Bucket (RSB), Canadians can come down for a game of pickup or pick up some fresh skills from local hoopers. With the help of the basketball community and Toronto Raptor Gary Trent Jr., who will be making a courtside appearance to teach local fans how to get buckets like him, the month-long activation is giving Canadians a new place to play the game they love.

“Canadians love for Finger Lickin’ Good buckets is only matched by their love of buckets on the basketball court,” says Azim Akhtar, Director of Marketing, KFC Canada. “That’s why we wanted to bring these two worlds together like only KFC can and create an epic winterized court that feeds Canadians’ growing passion for basketball.”

Concerned about the cold? Don’t be chicken! The custom court has everything you need to ball hard:
– Pre-warmed basketballs upon arrival;
– Rotating DJs on select Fridays and Saturdays courtesy of LiveNation;
– A Pepsi Sponsored Warming Centre with heaters and refreshments;
– KFC samples on select days, as well as an UberEats promo code for a future KFC order.

To keep you as crispy as a hot bucket of delicious fried chicken, guests can also gear up in custom, limited edition, Number 11 Puffer Jerseys (honouring the favourite herbs & spices).

KFC is donating court time to local basketball community groups to run their programs, and offering up $5 bookable time slots with funds going to Jump Thru Hoops. Located at The Bentway (800 Fleet Street), running Jan. 26 – Feb. 22, 2023, KFCourt will be open seven days a week to the public, snow or shine. Visit KFCourt.ca for complete details and instructions on how to reserve your spot. Staff on site will be available to answer any questions or join you for a game.

“Canadians have a deep passion for both buckets and basketball regardless of the season,” says Joseph Bonnici, Chief Creative Officer, Narrative. “So we wanted to give them an iconic bucket, and a winter court in an iconic location to let players bring their own heat to the court.”

As part of this 360-campaign, KFC is offering crave-worthy game night offers. Through the KFC App and on KFC.ca, consumers will save $5 when they spend $25 on game nights. KFC’s Buckets Are Life campaign can be seen and heard through high impact Out of Home, TV and OLV, partnerships with The Scarborough Shooting Stars, The Raptors Show on Sportsnet, BarDown on TikTok, and The Score, and across KFC Canada’s Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube channels.

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About KFC Canada
Founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, KFC is now the world’s most popular chain of chicken restaurants. To this day the Colonel’s own blend of 11 herbs and spices is still used to season our Original Recipe® chicken and it still remains a very closely guarded secret. KFC’s specialty is our famous Original Recipe® chicken, but we also feature a variety of freshly prepared sandwiches and wraps, on the go snack items, home-style sides, desserts and beverages. Today KFC Corporation is a subsidiary of YUM! Brands Inc. and operates more than 23,000 restaurants in more than 140 countries and territories around the world including more than 600 locations right here in Canada. To learn more about KFC Canada, visit our website www.kfc.ca

Title: Buckets Are Life
Client: KFC Canada
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond-Debicki
Director, Marketing: Azim Akhtar
Director, Performance Marketing: Telly Carayannakis
Brand Communications Manager: Laura Mallozzi

Agency: Narrative
Chief Creative Officer: Joseph Bonnici
Executive Creative Director: Jessie Sorell
Associate Creative Director: Katherine Flores
Associate Creative Director: Kyle Simons
Copywriter: Rahman Sobrie
Art Director: Karen Ganeshwarran
Senior Producer: Katie Link
Managing Director: Cathy Mitchell
Account Director: Katie Mills
Vice President: Lauren Baswick
Director of XM: Melissa Da Costa
Sr. Account Manager, XM: Jaclyn Kirk
Project Manager: Shireen Shah

Production Company: Tier Zero
Director: Charlie Lindsay, Due Pinlac
Director of Photography: Kris Belchevski
Line Producer: Trae Nguyen
Executive Producer: Julian Nieva
Food Stylist: Adele Shaw

Editorial Company: BBOMN
Editor: Tim Pienta
Editorial Executive Producer: Katie Link

VFX / Finishing: Darling VFX
VFX Artist: Lauren Rempel
VFX Assistant: Faith Clark
VFX Producer: Morgan Campbell

Colour Facility: Darling VFX
Colourist: Kassi Bellamy
Assistant Colourist: Jesse Hilton
Colour Producer: Morgan Campbell

Music & Sound: Grayson Matthews
Music & Audio Creative Director: Tyson Kuteyi
Music & Audio Executive Producer: Kelly McCluskey
Sound Engineer: Brian Bernard

Categories
Basketball, KFC, Narrative

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