Hellooo...NHL marketing? Anyone home?

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octopi

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Dec 29, 2004
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Shouldn't Ovechkin getting a hat trick and a serious assist(Shot deflected by Halpern) be covered more than short little link articles
off the side of major Sports sites pages, and 40 second game highlight blurbs 15 minutes into Sportsnet, TSN, The Score?

Not to turn this into an Ovechkin vs Crosby thread(please don't), but this would probably be front page and 5 minutes of highlight interviews if Crosby did this.

I'm not saying don't market Crosby, market him as much as people can stomach. I'm saying that something like this should be jumped all over by the media(Particularly in Canada) and it wasn't.
 

Bender

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Sep 25, 2002
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octopi said:
Shouldn't Ovechkin getting a hat trick and a serious assist(Shot deflected by Halpern) be covered more than short little link articles
off the side of major Sports sites pages, and 40 second game highlight blurbs 15 minutes into Sportsnet, TSN, The Score?

Not to turn this into an Ovechkin vs Crosby thread(please don't), but this would probably be front page and 5 minutes of highlight interviews if Crosby did this.

I'm not saying don't market Crosby, market him as much as people can stomach. I'm saying that something like this should be jumped all over by the media(Particularly in Canada) and it wasn't.

The answer to your thread title is no.

If you want more proof, just go to NHL.com and go see their horrible marketing campaign for the upcoming season. They have absolutely NO CLUE. Yeah, we all want to see generic loser actors who can barely hold a hockey stick...that's it. We DO NOT want to see our favourite players. Man, these guys are inept.
 

iagreewithidiots

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Hes a euro. Why would anyone in the Canadian media want to talk about how good he is?

Hes a hockey player. Why would anyone in the United States media want to talk about him at all?

Why on NHL.com is there a picture of Crosby and a small line under top stories about Ovechkin? I just cant explain that.

Yea overall Crosby is an easier sell but when a great young player explodes in a game he has to be the top story.
 

Robert Paulson*

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But haven't u guyz herd, Crosby got an assist 2 gamez ago!!!!!1!!1111!!!!



Don't know how to explain it..
 

Resolute

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Part of the problem, I suspect, is that I just can't bring myself to care about the Washington Capitals. They are one of those teams that just don't register as being anything more than irrelevent. Ovechkin is a damn fine prospect, but he alone cannot elevate his team to a point where anyone - particularaly in Canada - cares.
 

Namso

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I really like Crosby, but he's getting way more press than he deserves considering he hasnt really had a spectacular pre-season compared to other rookies like Ovechkin, Vanek, and even Latendresse...
 

CupDrought67

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Resolute said:
Part of the problem, I suspect, is that I just can't bring myself to care about the Washington Capitals. They are one of those teams that just don't register as being anything more than irrelevent. Ovechkin is a damn fine prospect, but he alone cannot elevate his team to a point where anyone - particularaly in Canada - cares.

And everyone cares about the pens because???
 

Resolute

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Mario and Crosby.

And, of course, the fact that a lot of people think the Pens might be able to challenge for the playoffs, while Washington would be lucky to challenge for 14th in the East.

Marketing around a terrible team doesnt sell the game much.
 

CupDrought67

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Resolute said:
Mario and Crosby.

And, of course, the fact that a lot of people think the Pens might be able to challenge for the playoffs, while Washington would be lucky to challenge for 14th in the East.

Marketing around a terrible team doesnt sell the game much.

They must be having marketing nightmares since crosby isn't producing much in pre-season against AHLers.
 

Resolute

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And anyone who panics over the preseason is a fool.

That said, I dont care much for the Crosby hype machine either. I'm far more interested in the highly competitive and unpredictable wetern conference.
 

octopi

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Resolute said:
And anyone who panics over the preseason is a fool.

That said, I dont care much for the Crosby hype machine either. I'm far more interested in the highly competitive and unpredictable wetern conference.

Whos panicking? Its all about selling the game, and even if Crosby is the best thing since sliced bread, it is very unlikely that he alone will keep the interest of all hockey fans everywhere. Ergo, the need to spread attention to other players as well.
 

ScottyBowman

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People that don't care about hockey aren't generally going to visit the nhl website. Face it. Hockey is a 2nd tier sport and we can scream marketing all we want but we are on the OLN LOL!
 

Drury_Sakic

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I dunno about you guys but the last week was full of more hockey ad's than I had seen all 2003-2004 it seems....

The NHL's myNHL ad was something I hated at first, but after seeing the cuts of it on TV rather than TSN.ca I am actually rather liking it. They ran 3 spots over the course of 2 hours during LOST last week, which is a big plus as it is one of the networks most watched shows. I have also seen it many times on various networks. G4 TV shows it every comercial break it seems. I have also seen an OLN NHL ad several times over the last 3 days.

Plus, for the first time ever I actually walked past a group of people talking hockey on my campus(UC Riverside, California). They were talking about the ad ( a group of asian kids none the less, no offense ment if you are asian, but thats just odd).

While the NHL could be promoting different players a bit more, picking up on 2-3 names are how the other leagues do it..... NBA Lebron, Shaq, Duncun, Bryant..NFL Moss, Vick, Brady, Owens, Farve.. MLB A-Rod, Johnson, Shilling, A. Jones... You simply don't hear a ton about more than 4-5 guys.. its to market to a broad crowd.. NCAA Football.. Leinhert, Bush, Quinn......

and NHL, Crosby, Mario, Forsberg, Brodeur


You do it so that the causal fan latches on to a few names so that when they hear that name they go "oh, hockey, cool" ... ext....

Its also hard to market a product that you know little about.... who knows which teams are going to be good... I mean, you can kinda guess, but its been so long and so many changes have been made.... age has also crept in... Don't wanna dump your marketing into Stevey Y. right now...as he is older and will be retiring soon...

:teach:


You don't have to like it.. its just the way its done..
 

CupDrought67

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ScottyBowman said:
People that don't care about hockey aren't generally going to visit the nhl website. Face it. Hockey is a 2nd tier sport and we can scream marketing all we want but we are on the OLN LOL!

Hockey isn't a 2nd tier sport (maybe in the US) baseball goes under that category. Hockey is played in far more countries than baseball. Just because many americans think it's a second tier sport we all should? You guys might have it on OLN, but over here and many places in the world it is on a first tier sports channel. It doesn't bother me one bit if american's want to watch a bunch of roiders hit a 90 mph ball and eat a hot dog during it.
 

Resolute

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The world popularity of hockey vs baseball is irrelevent to the marketing of the game. The NHL is going to make it's money in North America - in particular, the US - and in the US, it is most definitely a second tier sport.
 

Lady Rhian

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If any of you are Bruins fans, and saw tonights' game on NESN, you'd understand my pure hatred for the most insane hockey commericial "We Believe". Oh, my goodness, if that isn't the worst commercial I've ever seen, hands down.... people chanting like religious fanatics, I just wanted to shoot the damn TV everytime it came on. Whoever thought this commercial up ought to be barred from any commercial making for the rest of their life......
 

CupDrought67

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Resolute said:
The world popularity of hockey vs baseball is irrelevent to the marketing of the game. The NHL is going to make it's money in North America - in particular, the US - and in the US, it is most definitely a second tier sport.

You know what a second tier sport is? Something that cannot get more than 2, 000 people to come to their games. MLS and NLL are a few that come to mind. Not a sport that has as many as 18, 000 people showing up. In the US it's certainly not a second tier sport in the east (specifically the north) also Hockey has pretty good minor team support. Don't forget that in the 70s there were TWO leagues competing with each other over fans (NHL-WHA), and why would they do that if there was no audience? Obviously they wouldn't do that for a second tier sport.
 

littleD

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CupDrought67 said:
You know what a second tier sport is? Something that cannot get more than 2, 000 people to come to their games. MLS and NLL are a few that come to mind. Not a sport that has as many as 18, 000 people showing up. In the US it's certainly not a second tier sport in the east (specifically the north) also Hockey has pretty good minor team support. Don't forget that in the 70s there were TWO leagues competing with each other over fans (NHL-WHA), and why would they do that if there was no audience? Obviously they wouldn't do that for a second tier sport.

If you think the MLS draws less than 2000 people to there games, you need to look into the MLS a little more. :)

We're not in the 70s anymore. People aren't basing the NHL being a "second tier sport" on what attendance is at games. The NHL wants and needs TV numbers in the US. Until they got those numbers in the US, it will be looked down on by many.
 

iagreewithidiots

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CupDrought67 said:
Hockey isn't a 2nd tier sport (maybe in the US) baseball goes under that category. Hockey is played in far more countries than baseball. Just because many americans think it's a second tier sport we all should? You guys might have it on OLN, but over here and many places in the world it is on a first tier sports channel. It doesn't bother me one bit if american's want to watch a bunch of roiders hit a 90 mph ball and eat a hot dog during it.
You can think whatever you want about the NHL.

But sadly for you without American dollars the NHL does not exist. Not in its current form. But Im sure guys like you would be happy. No American dollars probably means the Euros stay home.

Hockey is not played in "far more" countries then baseball. You just made that up. If you want to down an American sport try football. That is one of the least popular sports worldwide. But the most popular in the U.S.
 

Weary

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Lady Rhian said:
If any of you are Bruins fans, and saw tonights' game on NESN, you'd understand my pure hatred for the most insane hockey commericial "We Believe". Oh, my goodness, if that isn't the worst commercial I've ever seen, hands down.... people chanting like religious fanatics, I just wanted to shoot the damn TV everytime it came on. Whoever thought this commercial up ought to be barred from any commercial making for the rest of their life......
I watched that game. That was an OLN commercial, I believe.

I assume they didn't want to start of their new relationship with the NHL on the wrong foot. Knowing how bad the 'My NHL' commercial was, they decided to make one that was even worse, thereby sparing Gary Bettman's feelings.
 

Hyack57

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If you use attendence as a water mark for determining 2nd tierdom than hockey is 2nd tier in the US.

Even the worst NFL team draws an insane crowd. Baseball is about as American as apple pie and that's just how they like it. I think the kicker is the WWE even has more of a fan base than the NHL in the states. And the WWE can hardly be considered "sport", since the competition is staged.
 

Resolute

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CupDrought67 said:
You know what a second tier sport is? Something that cannot get more than 2, 000 people to come to their games. MLS and NLL are a few that come to mind. Not a sport that has as many as 18, 000 people showing up. In the US it's certainly not a second tier sport in the east (specifically the north) also Hockey has pretty good minor team support. Don't forget that in the 70s there were TWO leagues competing with each other over fans (NHL-WHA), and why would they do that if there was no audience? Obviously they wouldn't do that for a second tier sport.

Seems odd to me that you would be bashing the NLL as a league that can only get 2000 fans when you are in Toronto, an NLL city that averages 17,000 fans a game for the Rock...

Dont let your love for hockey blind you to reality. After the NFL, MLB, NBA and NASCAR, there is a significant dropoff in the level of interest by American sports fans.

Certantly hockey has regional appeal in the NE US, but guess what? Soccer and Lacrosse have their pockets of support too.

Your WHA-NHL argument is nonsensical. With the exception of Toronto, the two leagues were not competing for markets. Rather, the WHA was trying to build into areas that the NHL had not. There was no competition for fans, and regardless, the WHA experiment was 30 years ago. It has no relevence to today.
 

Lady Rhian

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Weary said:
I watched that game. That was an OLN commercial, I believe.

I assume they didn't want to start of their new relationship with the NHL on the wrong foot. Knowing how bad the 'My NHL' commercial was, they decided to make one that was even worse, thereby sparing Gary Bettman's feelings.


Hopefully, it stays on OLN and NESN drops that commercial. :biglaugh: I can't stand the thoughts of watching that all season. I'd much rather listen to the Foxwoods commercials- that's how much I despise the "We Believe" commercial! :madfire:
 

MountainHawk

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CupDrought67 said:
You know what a second tier sport is? Something that cannot get more than 2, 000 people to come to their games. MLS and NLL are a few that come to mind. Not a sport that has as many as 18, 000 people showing up. In the US it's certainly not a second tier sport in the east (specifically the north) also Hockey has pretty good minor team support. Don't forget that in the 70s there were TWO leagues competing with each other over fans (NHL-WHA), and why would they do that if there was no audience? Obviously they wouldn't do that for a second tier sport.

Wow ... you picked two bad leagues to comment on attendence issues there. Both MLS and NLL are coming off all time highs for attendence.
 

coolguy21415

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Jul 17, 2003
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I think people are missing the point of advertising. Having a 'good' commercial doesn't matter, because noone's trying to market to you! You're already interested in hockey and the NHL, as evidenced that you post here. The NHL is trying to market to the NFL fan and the NASCAR fan, someone not interested in the NHL, by illustrating that hockey is a fast and violent sport of warriors, thereby playing on the image the NFL has. They aren't trying to win back customers, they're getting new ones.

Also, it's better to have a 'bad' commercial than an average commercial. Whatever gets people talking works, and these new NHL commercials are doing that, noone can argue that.
 
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