Skyscanner Scores Big with OOH Stunt during NBA Playoffs

Skyscanner cheekily engaged sports fans last week with a contextually clever ad in Los Angeles. The global travel comparison app bought a 100 ft billboard outside the Crypto.com Arena which read: “Dallas to Cancun. For great flights to Cancun, visit Skyscanner.” ahead of the playoff game between The Dallas Mavericks and the LA Clippers. 

The billboard is in reference to the beloved NBA meme of players departing for Cancun following playoff elimination. The well-known ‘inside joke’ started 25 years ago and now echoes across locker rooms, courts, press conferences and interviews

The ad created quite a stir with journalists and fans alike taking to their social media to discuss the stunt. Skyscanner estimates 3.5 million impressions on X (Twitter) alone in the first 24 hours of the billboard being live.

More than potential, the national press picked up the story and ran with it, with over 840m million media impressions in the first 24 hours (source: Cision). The play on a culturally resonant NBA meme garnered coverage with the likes of The Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, ESPN & Bleacher Report, hitting tier one press across online, broadcast and social media press platforms.

“It’s important that we stay on top of what’s happening in culture, while aiming to playfully disrupt the travel space by creating memorable moments.” said Andre Le Masurier, global head of brand at Skyscanner. “For us to be successful, we need to punch above our weight with unexpected executions, bringing some light-hearted humour aligned to travel. From the first chat with Courage the idea felt like it had potential. It’s so simple.”  

In an unlikely turn of events, the Skyscanner team were delighted to hear the ad was being removed from circulation, as this was a sign of simply how much traction the idea had garnered. The Clippers felt the ad was too distracting.

Skyscanner billboard outside the Crypto.com Arena.

Andre continued, “To have the ad pulled due to it drawing that much attention was a surreal moment. The NBA playoffs are one of the biggest sporting moments of the year. To be sharing the attention of the fans and media was a real indication that we truly tapped into the cultural zeitgeist. The billboard itself became a meme.” 

In the days following the billboard being taken down, it took on a life of its own online. Variations of the billboard were memed by both Clippers and Mavericks fans alike. And two days later at the next game in the series, fan made posters recreating the billboard were spotted on camera both outside and inside the arena in Dallas.

The work was a collaborative effort, with Courage, Inc. identifying the cultural insight and creative idea, Skyscanner’s in-house brand team crafting the design and managing the social media strategy, Rebel & Thorn Inc. securing the prominent ad space, and 5WPR delivering national, tier one media coverage. 

“We’re always thinking about our clients and looking for opportunities for them to engage with culture in ways that feel authentic. When the NBA playoffs kicked off and we saw everyone talking about trips to Cancun we thought this is perfect for Skyscanner. We shared it with Andre the next day and a couple days later we were on ESPN.” Tom Kenny, CSO, Courage.