SharkNinja Served 5,000 Wings at the PWHL Finals. They Had 72 Hours to Do It.
The PWHL Finals came to Ottawa — so, SharkNinja showed up with a grill, 5,000 chicken wings, and three days to pull it together.
The FlexFlame BBQ activation ran for six hours at the Finals, and by any measure, it landed. Over 5,000 wings cooked live on-site. Thousands of guest interactions. A 67% scan-to-entry conversion on giveaway entries. And a crowd that kept gathering, not because they were herded there, but because something was actually happening.
That last part matters. Anyone can rent a tent and hand out branded merchandise. Getting people to stop, watch a grill work, ask questions, and come back for more is a different thing entirely.
72 Hours Is Not a Lot of Time
Most experiential activations take weeks to plan. Venue logistics, production schedules, staffing, approvals. By the time everything is locked, the spontaneity has been planned right out of it.
SharkNinja's team built and executed this one in 72 hours, from brief to live activation at a national championship final.
That kind of speed isn't just impressive operationally. It's a strategic capability. Brands that can move at that pace can show up for moments that brands with slower processes will always miss. A Finals appearance. A cultural window that opens and closes fast. A partnership that comes together at the last minute.
The PWHL Finals was that kind of moment, and SharkNinja was ready for it.
The Product Did the Talking
What made the activation work wasn't the giveaway or the footprint. It was the grill.
The FlexFlame cooked live, in public, in front of fans who were already in the mood to be entertained. People crowded in to watch it. They asked how it worked. They tasted the wings right off it. That's the kind of product interaction a brand can't manufacture through paid media. It has to be earned in the moment.
It also helps that the product genuinely performs. A grill that can cook 5,000 wings over six hours at an outdoor activation, with no drama, is making its own case.
Why the PWHL Is the Right Room to Be In Right Now
The PWHL is one of the fastest growing leagues in professional sports right now, and the numbers back that up. Launched in January 2024 with six teams, the league will go into the 2026-27 season with 12, after adding Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San Jose as its four expansion markets. Hamilton alone drew 16,012 fans to a Takeover Tour game earlier this year, with more than 70% of that crowd attending their first ever PWHL event. These aren't casual fans being converted. They're new fans showing up hungry.
For brands, that kind of growth trajectory is exactly what you want to be adjacent to before the inventory gets priced accordingly. Sponsorship at the PWHL level still offers genuine access and presence that would cost multiples more in a more established league. And the fanbase is engaged in a way that passive audiences are not.
SharkNinja didn't just sponsor an event. They fed it. Literally.
The Numbers
5,000+ wings served over 6 hours, cooked live on the FlexFlame
Thousands of guest interactions, real product conversations, not passive foot traffic
67% scan-to-entry conversion on giveaway entries
72-hour turnaround from brief to fully executed activation
For three days of build time, those are numbers worth paying attention to.
You Don't Need a SharkNinja Budget to Run This Play
The mechanics behind this activation are more accessible than they look. The core of it was a product that does something visible, a venue with a built-in audience, and a team willing to move fast. None of those things require a massive budget. They require the right mindset.
A few things any brand can replicate regardless of budget:
Find a room where the energy is already high. A local farmers market, a community festival, a neighbourhood event. You're not building the audience. You're showing up for one that already exists.
Make the product the entertainment. A live demonstration beats a static display every time. If your product does something, show it doing something.
Keep the call to action immediate. The 67% scan-to-entry conversion didn't happen because the ask was clever. It happened because the engagement came first and the ask was simple.
Move faster than you think you need to. The 72-hour turnaround wasn't a liability. It was the point. Opportunities don't wait for the next planning cycle.
The grill was a FlexFlame. Yours might be something else entirely. The principle is the same.
