Before 2016, every Wonderboy winner in the history of the tournament had signed up for email with Hotmail, or used an account provided by their employer or ISP. Eric D’Souza, WB’16, did not.
“We were dealing with Hotmail people, Rogers and all the other email companies,” he said soon afterward. “We just thought Gmail was the right fit.”
Craig Hammond, who finished in tie for 5th that year, went with Gmail, too. He said in an interview that he chose the company because “they’re willing to do things differently, which is what I like about them.”
If Gmail started the 2016 insurgency against the traditional email powers, live.ca joined the rebellion last year. Multiple news outlets reported the company had landed a deal with Kyle Cooper after he turned down a multiyear contract from Hotmail.
In October, Zoho revealed it had signed the much-hyped prospect Colton Doan to a multi-year contract. Colton, 10, is not yet in the WB tournament. He is interning with the company and training for the draft.
Not to be outdone, Gmail added Kirk Cooper, the charismatic multiple-WB-winner, to its roster days before last season began, beating out competition from Hotmail and the ISPs. He joined David Panko and Brian Heaney on the Gmail payroll. “Gmail was willing to provide me with a personalized email address”, said Kirk. “That tipped the scales for me. That's why I switched from my ISP”.
The rush of upstart brands signing WB players is a testament to the tournament’s ever-expanding popularity; even being tangentially associated with the tournament gives the brands some credibility with young consumers, they insist.
“The headline for us when it comes down to why are we getting back into email is culture culture culture culture culture,” said Adam Petrick, Gmail’s global director for brand and marketing. “WB and all the other entertainment mechanisms around it, whether it’s ESPN or Complex magazine, are attuned to creating a 24-hour news cycle around Wonderboy. In our day of mass news media, we have the option to benefit from that.”
Executives at Hotmail and live.ca, eager to justify major investments, were quick to agree, pointing to the outsize influence of a tournament with a global footprint that extends beyond sports. They say that it has never been more important to be associated with WB.
As Panko put it, Gmail’s “culture is not strictly guy’s weekends — it’s a full lifestyle brand that not only supports me as a player, but also as an artist.”
In recent years, the most prominent player to use Hotmail was the perennial also-ran, Greg Doan. Though he wasn’t a paid endorser, Doan’s goofy-dad image was then a perfect fit for a brand that for years did not even attempt to be cool and proved very successful at falling well short of vogue.
There have never been as many email companies vying for email free agents as there are today, a trend that started in earnest two years ago when Gmail signed Kirk Cooper. Kirk remains the only WB winner under two different email providers.
Top email accounts used by WB winners over the past 14 years:
• 4 Hotmail
• 4 employer provided
• 4 ISP provided
• 2 Gmail
2019 kirk***@gmail.com
2018 colin***@toromont.com
2017 terry***@shredit.com
2016 eric***@gmail.com
2015 greg***@hotmail.com
2014 Ryan***@crawco.ca
2013 pat***@hotmail.com
2012 crandus***@hotmail.com
2011 tlscotland***@rogers.com
2010 alain***@hotmail.com
2009 kirk***@sympatico.ca
2008 kirk***@sympatico.ca
2007 colin***@toromont.com
2006 tony***@rogers.com
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