Sysco’s The Greatest Game™ Promotion

Marketing Overview

As the official food service partner of Super Bowl LI 2017 Houston Host Committee, Sysco Foods, the largest food distributor in the U.S. and Canada, needed a creative partner to brand their largest B2B promotion to date. RCCO and FPO agencies were selected among national advertising agencies due to the unconventional nature of the proposed creative, clever tactical implementation recommendations, multicultural capabilities, and strategic focus.

Together with Sysco, a 16-week, trilingual (English, Spanish, and French Canadian), customer-facing promotion (from August – December 2016) was created leveraging the excitement of the football season with the sales of Sysco Brand and supplier products.

Transforming Sysco headquarters into an immersive brand experience, including skybridge football field and large-scale signage.

The game aimed to encourage both the Sysco Sales Team and their community of local food service customers to compete for a grand prize trip to Super Bowl LI.

Key objectives included

• Generate excitement at both Corporate and OpCo levels
• Drive registration and sustained engagement
• Provide business-building tools and insights

Creative Approach

The Greatest Game™ by Sysco® combined football culture, food relevance, and business growth into one unified system.

Customer Playbook

“Football is more fun with food” platform brought to life through bold, product-driven storytelling.

A mobile-first microsite was designed to give registered customers a customized experience with dashboards, scoreboards, tips, and content.

Personalized dashboards and real-time score tracking kept users engaged weekly.

The system processed sales data and powered over 90,000 dashboards over 16 weeks. We implemented Sysco’s first text communication platform to drive weekly engagement. For associates, we created Coaches Kits and Locker Room Kits.

Physical toolkits turned sales teams into active participants in the program.

  Customers received printed playbooks with insights and product strategies.  

Playbooks delivered actionable business insights, menu ideas, and operational guidance.

Execution

The program was structured in four phases aligned to football season quarters.  

Office and Back-of-House Poster Signage

Each quarter focused on specific product categories, driving sustained engagement over time.

Results

Overall, The Greatest Game™ drove record participation and engagement.

• 96,000+ registrations
• 120,000 sessions and 600,000 page views
• 69% of associates rated it better than previous programs
• 73% of customers found content helpful for business growth

Real-time performance tracking turned participation into a competitive, measurable experience.