Coca-Cola Air hockey event held in Canada (0 comments)
 Last week, Coca-Cola held a promotional air hockey tournament in Canada, promoting their new Coke Zero, a zero calorie Coca Cola targeted at a young male market. Free samples were given out, they had several radio stations broadcasting live or doing interviews, and a live DJ onsite.
To celebrate the Canadian launch of Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola invited former Toronto Maple Leafs players, world air hockey professionals including national champion Danny Hynes, and Torontonians to Yonge-Dundas Square to take part in what was dubbed the world's largest air hockey tournament.
1st Place - Steven Ross, Toronto, ON, Canada
2nd Place - Tim Theodosiou, Toronto, ON, Canada
3rd Place - Adam Higgins, Toronto, ON, Canada
From Steven Ross, the winner of the event:
"This event was a truly amazing experience. It was my little "USAA World Championship" since it's difficult for me to get to an actual Worlds. I was so happy to win this even though I pretty well knew that without Graham as competition that I had a very good chance of winning it. Graham had the luck of the draw getting a 10 yr old Irish boy as an opponent and he did the honourable thing and let him win. Graham would have wooped me good for sure. But, every game against Graham and everyone associated with the USAA is a learning experience. It was awesome to hook up with Graham again (great to hear of your 5-month old boy, Cole!).
It was so pleased to see Danny and Michael again and it was an added bonus to meet Andy for the first time. I commend them all for doing such a great job of promoting the sport of Air Hockey. When I got called to my first game I was surprised to see my opponent NOT holding the knob of the mallet. I immediately said to myself "I wonder who coached him? Rosen, Yevish or Hynes?" Smile
In fact, by the end of the day I think at least two thirds of players I watched were using the proper grip. Big improvements were seen all over and in discussing the sport with many I found they had developed a sense of respect and admiration for Air Hockey and it's fierce competitors. As Graham said, "Just take a look at this (pointing toward the fully manned tables). Everyone loves Air Hockey." So true. It's just that the majority of people who do haven't gotten wind of the competitive aspect and the myriad of things to learn about the sport.
Having former Toronto Maple Leafs players Wendel Clark, Darryl Sittler and Nick Kypreos (Emcee for the day) there was great for the promotion. They were all great guys and Nick spoke so well as Emcee promoting Air Hockey as a sport it was truly impressive to hear. He even made a point that I have harped on with friends recently. If Poker can be on TV why not Air Hockey? He was totally buying in and he's in sports broadcasting on Rogers Sportsnet here in Canada.
Coca-Cola and Maverick PR did a wonderful job on this event and everyone treated the pros and the players really well. I sure hope it got to be the official largest tournament in the world. Even if not, it was a truly successful promotion for Air Hockey and, as Andy says, it offers a great blueprint to build on.
I was really proud of the media attention on the pros especially hearing Nick Kypreos saying about every 15 minutes "We've got World Air Hockey Champion Danny Hynes here with us." He mentioned Andy as the Beast from the East and Michael Rosen a lot as well. Truly great to hear it and I felt proud of them too!
Finally, this was not about winning (althoug I was driven to win!). It was not about prizes. This was about the good of the sport. I think AH won big yesterday. And an additional reason why AH won big was Michael arranging a visit to The Hospital for Sick Children where he, Andy and Danny played with the kids and staff and really brought some joy to kids facing tremendous challenges. That shows a great deal ab
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