When Canadian power and energy specialist; Spark Power and its sister company, infrastructure services investment bank; Spara Capital, set out to create a networking event for the energy and power industry they wanted to do something a little different.
“At Spara Capital, we founded a quarterly hockey game that pitted financial service firms from Bay Street against those from Main Street,” said Jason Sparaga, Founder of Spara Capital and Co-Founder of Spark Power. “It became a big part of our culture and how we connected with the industry for some ten years. We did a tonne of business because of it and wanted to do something similar,” he added.
So when Sparaga and his partner, Andrew Clark established Spark Power in 2013 to consolidate renewable energy and traditional power service providers, they felt that an on-ice networking event was an obvious answer but felt it would be fun to brand the event and playfully hang it on an old industry rivalry. The Spark Power and Spara Capital teams drew from epic and historic battle between Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla known as the “War of Currents” and documented the video as the focus for a holiday video and corporate gift.
The Spark Power Play Challenge, billed as the answer to the “age old industry question of alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) electricity”, played earlier this fall, saw 30 leaders from the province’s energy and renewable energy sectors drafted to either the AC Shockers or the DC Chargers. Customized logos and jerseys were designed for each team; referees and timekeepers were hired; and a professional film crew was retained to capture the essence of the “battle”.
Both Sparaga and Clark, Co-Captains of the event also decided that the event served as a decent focal point for Spark and Spara’s corporate gift and contributed a $2,500 donation to Prostate Cancer Canada (an increase from the $1,000 donation noted during the video) in the name of the game’s winning team.
“Employees in both the power & energy and financial services sectors tend to be older and male, so our constituency aligned well with the target group for prostate cancer,” said Andrew Clark.
“We knew that Prostate Cancer Canada had a campaign with a hockey theme, called Protect the Five Hole and had gotten to know CEO, Rocco Rossi and the good work he and his team do, so it was a no-brainer to align with them,” he added.
“We appreciate the support and gift from groups like Spark Power and Spara Capital,” said Rocco Rossi, CEO of Prostate Cancer Canada, who joined the Spark and Spara employees at a screening of the video. “This was a unique and fun way to help get our message across and we’re looking forward to working with them again,” he added.
Spark Power, Spara Capital and Prostate Cancer Canada are already underway planning the next Spark Power Play Challenge.
Prostate Cancer Canada is a national foundation dedicated to the elimination of prostate cancer through, research, education, support and awareness. For more information visit www.prostatecancer.ca
Spark Power Spark Power Corp. is a Canadian leader the power and energy industry focused on development, finance and asset management for renewable energy assets as well as technical services for high voltage and renewable asset operations and maintenance. www.sparkpower.ca
