The Halifax Rainmen basketball franchise have a renewed identity and fresh new ad campaign showcasing the team as blockbuster entertainment for the Halifax area. Nova Scotia’s only professional basketball team approached Colour to help them build their audience base in the city and to draw fans to the Metro Centre where the team plays all of their games at home.
 
Now in their third season, The Halifax Rainmen are part of the Premier Basketball League - www.thepbl.com - a professional basketball league based largely in the American/Canadian Northeast. Owned by Detroit native and current Haligonian, Andre Levingston, the team plays 8 away and 10 home games during the regular season this year. With eight other PBL teams from as near as Quebec and as far as Puerto Rico, Halifax will be host to some exciting league competition at home in 2010. The city and team will also play host to this year’s PBL All-Star Weekend.

Colour worked with the Rainmen’s Leslie Macdougall, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, to develop a new corporate identity and revised logos for the team as well as a contemporary makeover for their advertising. The new campaign includes print, online, billboard and radio spots that are currently in market.
 
“The ads are positioned to promote Rainmen home games as an option for families looking to do something fun together,” says Colour’s Chris Lydon, account lead on the campaign. Halifax has many opportunities for families looking to spend the day together, and the franchise is competing with other options for entertainment, specifically movies. “This is exciting and affordable family entertainment, it really is blockbuster basketball. Having a little fun with the movie genre was only natural for our campaign approach.”
 
Movie-goers are a prime target considering the price for a young family to attend a movie and the price to attend a Rainmen home game are practically the same. This was the motivation behind the development of the taglines such as “Blockbuster Basketball” and “Better Than Any Movie.”
 
“The Rainmen put on a great show, they’re stars and genuinely provide their fans with high-octane entertainment value. But to build the franchise, folks need to discover that and experience it firsthand. Andre and his team agreed to target a broad market searching for an exciting entertainment alternative for themselves and their families. Like that line from another movie ... He’s built it, and we’re confident that they’ll come.” says Chris. 

For more information on Colour's work, visit the Colour website.

For more information on the Halifax Rainmen, visit www.rainmenbasketball.ca