True North, True ROAS: Inside TNSE’s Winning Ad Playbook

Meet the Fan Marketers:

Company: True North Sports and Entertainment
Industry: Sports & Entertainment
Fan Marketing Award Won: The Madison Avenue: The Madison Ave uses their fan data and the Tradable Bits ads platform to drive strategic initiatives and hit key revenue targets. 

True North Sports & Entertainment (TNSE) operates at the intersection of sport, entertainment and fan connection – home to the Winnipeg Jets, Canada Life Centre, Manitoba Moose, and Burton Cummings Theatre. They’re the engine behind some of the best nights out in Winnipeg, and with a bold, data-driven approach, they’re selling moments that stick. 

The Challenge: 4 Distinct Properties, One Vision for Performance

How do you market four vastly different properties, at scale, in real time, and with ROI baked into every dollar spent? 

For TNSE, the answer came down to one guiding principle: advertising without the right insights creates noise. Their teams needed a way to not just run digital campaigns, but to compound their year-over-year marketing efforts to run them smarter. They wanted measurable, fan-driven results with room to adapt, personalize and grow.

The (True) North Star

They wanted to see a 10X Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) for every campaign. Period.

TNSE wasn’t just chasing impressions; they were chasing impact on revenue. The Winnipeg Jets set the tone, aiming for an ROAS of 10 or higher (often hitting 25 - 30x), while the Manitoba Moose leaned into awareness. As for the Canada Life Center and Burton Cummings Theatre? They were all about conversions - filling seats one campaign at a time. 

The Play: Precision at Scale with Tradable Bits

From dynamic ad campaigns to rich fan segmentation, TNSE turned Tradable Bits into the central nervous system for their marketing machine:

• Segmentation & Retargeting: Working with Tradable Bits, TNSE tailored ads to fan segments based on purchase history, behaviour, and real-time engagement
• Tradable Bits Tracker Links: With Tradable Bits Tracker links across all their marketing, every click that led to a purchase was attributed to the specific marketing campaign, helping the team see what worked and what didn’t
• Always-On Optimization: Leaning on the Tradable Bits ads team, the TNSE team could focus on broader strategy while Tradable Bits focused on daily tweaks, optimization and real-time pivots.
• Playing with Personalization: Think Valentine’s Day ads with messaging based on relationship status. Fun stuff. And it worked. 

The Playbook: What made each property stand out

1. The Winnipeg Jets: Aggressively scaled their ad budget and maintained high ROAS. Their focus was on precision performance. 
2. The Manitoba Moose: Turned challenges into creative worms. When their standings weren’t headline-worthy, the team leaned into theme nights (think princesses, superheroes, and 25 mascot nights) to stand out in a crowded market.
3. Canada Life Center & Burton Cummings Theatre : Tackled complexity head-on, managing 30-40 campaigns at a time. Used Tradable Bits engagement tools to drive newsletter sign-ups and fill the funnel for future shows.

The Scoreboard

What’s Next? Doubling Down On:

• Real-time creative tied to live game moments
• More automated integrations with their marketing stack (i.e. email, SMS)
• Looking into more emerging ad platforms to test 
• Unlocking the full potential of their fan data, with more fan profiling and experimentation on the horizon.

TNSE is raising the bar for digital advertising in sports & live entertainment. It’s no surprise that they came out on top as the winner of The Madison Avenue. 

Want to see how Tradable Bits can help you grow and activate your fanbase? Let’s talk 👇