NBA forward Scottie Barnes made a surprising announcement last week: for a little while at least, he was officially “Scotties” Barnes. The temporary name change was part of a Scotties Facial Tissues campaign that included a unique integration into a Toronto Raptors broadcast on TSN.  

Barnes debuted the stunt at a TSN “press conference” as part of Scotties’ ongoing “Get the Name Right” campaign aimed at making the brand a household tissue name. “My name is now Scotties, with an S. Still only one me though,” reads the copy accompanying the Instagram post. 

The clearly tongue-in-cheek campaign saw TSN’s Sport Centre highlight the moment in a special “Top 10” segment, showing clips from the press event and underscoring the playful nature of the collaboration.

SportsCentre highlighted the moment in a special “Top 10” segment, showing clips from the press event and underscoring the playful nature of the collaboration.

The social-first campaign is running through meta and TikTok, amplified by TSN, Toronto Culture and superfan Nav Bhatia. It reflects Scotties’ broader effort to strengthen brand recognition in Canada. Despite being the country’s top facial tissue brand for over 60 years, Canadians sometimes misremember the name, occasionally confusing it with Kleenex that exited the Canadian market in 2023. 

“This collaboration with Scottie Barnes has allowed Scotties to tap into the energy and enthusiasm of Canadian sports fans in a fresh and engaging way,” said Susan Irving, CMO of Kruger Products. “With this new campaign, we wanted to playfully embed the Scotties name into a cultural moment  – highlighting that consumers have been calling us by the wrong name for years while reminding Canadians that Scotties has been proudly serving them for over 60 years.” 

Scotties’ marketing approach has leaned into humour and cultural moments in recent years. Last year, the brand staged a hypnotism-themed pop-up in Toronto to highlight its name, showing a consistent focus on playful campaigns designed to connect with Canadian consumers.

This story first appeared on Campaign Canada.