The NHL marketing campaign gets the gas face
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Seth Lake
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OK, I thought they were OK (at best) at the beginning of the season, but they have simply gone on for far too long now. Time for the NHL to go back to the marketing deptartment and tell them to produce some new commericals using game footage from the first half of the season. It would be nice to see some footage of the shootouts, the hard hits, and even some good old goal scoring and nice saves. Stay away from the fights. If anyone wants to go watch hockey fights all they have to do is go onto EBay and type in "hockey" in the DVD/VHS section. That'll get them all the fight coverage they want.
SLake said:
For some reason the NHL (and even espn) keeps thinking most people love to see fighting in hockey when that could be far from the truth. People like offense (especially in the US) and physical play like open ice body checking. Yeah, a lot of people like the fighting too, but not nearly as much as the people who could live without it.
I have never once heard an entire building fail to go insane at a fight. I would suggest that those opposed to fighting are not only a minority, but a small one.
Besides, the "gladiator" idea for the hockey commercial goes beyond simply fighting. Hockey is a game dominated by battles in all aspects of the game. The idea was good, but the execution was poor.
Besides, the "gladiator" idea for the hockey commercial goes beyond simply fighting. Hockey is a game dominated by battles in all aspects of the game. The idea was good, but the execution was poor.
Seth Lake
Registered User
Maybe I'm being misunderstood. I definitely think there is room in the game of hockey for fighting. I'm not going to get into that though because I fear that would totally get this thread off-topic.
My point was to change up the commericals and use 2005-06 first half footage. Highlight great goals, hard hits, fantastic saves, and make sure to use some footage from the shootouts (I've failed to see a crowd not get on their feet and go electric during a shootout this season). My view from a marketing standpoint is that I think you have to market the game to families and I don't think showing a fight is the way to go with that demographic.
I was upset to see a minor league team in Knoxville, TN (and don't bash it because of the location, I've seen the same thing elsewhere in the Northeast) advertise their season with a picture of a player totally topless (assume he had just been in a fight) skating off the ice pumping his arms in the air with the crowd going nuts behind him. The ad had their game schedule listed below the picture. You tell me...is that the marketing campaign we want the NHL to use? Minor leagues, OK...but not the NHL.
Too many energy filled highlights of great hockey plays this season to overlook for fighting footage.
My point was to change up the commericals and use 2005-06 first half footage. Highlight great goals, hard hits, fantastic saves, and make sure to use some footage from the shootouts (I've failed to see a crowd not get on their feet and go electric during a shootout this season). My view from a marketing standpoint is that I think you have to market the game to families and I don't think showing a fight is the way to go with that demographic.
I was upset to see a minor league team in Knoxville, TN (and don't bash it because of the location, I've seen the same thing elsewhere in the Northeast) advertise their season with a picture of a player totally topless (assume he had just been in a fight) skating off the ice pumping his arms in the air with the crowd going nuts behind him. The ad had their game schedule listed below the picture. You tell me...is that the marketing campaign we want the NHL to use? Minor leagues, OK...but not the NHL.
Too many energy filled highlights of great hockey plays this season to overlook for fighting footage.
Seth Lake
Registered User
I agree. I liked the idea, but felt that it was poorly executed. I saw the commerical at least once before I realized it was an NHL commerical. I saw the beginning and simply tuned it out by the end.Resolute said:
OMG, what drives me nuts is that they use the same commerical on the radio. The commerical is based off of all the imagery in it...it is useless on the radio.
I don't think the problem is the gladiator or more aptly, samurai theme, that the league was going for with these ads. The problem is that a faceless actor is at the center of the ads rather than recognizable NHL stars. You need to market the stars in your league, beyond simply focusing on a single young rookie. Market the league's star players year in and year out, and air the ads featuring the local team's stars in given regions.
Personally, I think that after the lockout, the league was averse to making the players the focus of the league. Rather, they wished to focus on the teams (whose logos are prominently in the ads in the form of the different team jerseys). These jerseys are paired up with given region in which the ads air.
If they did these ads so that the Calgary ad featured the calgary jersey and Iginla, the Columbus jersey and Nash, the LA jersey and Demitra or Roenick, Philly/Forsberg, etc., I would have been a good deal happier.
It coudl also be that the league did not want to pay, or was not able to reach agreement with, the NHLPA on costs for the rights to use players in these ads.
Personally, I think that after the lockout, the league was averse to making the players the focus of the league. Rather, they wished to focus on the teams (whose logos are prominently in the ads in the form of the different team jerseys). These jerseys are paired up with given region in which the ads air.
If they did these ads so that the Calgary ad featured the calgary jersey and Iginla, the Columbus jersey and Nash, the LA jersey and Demitra or Roenick, Philly/Forsberg, etc., I would have been a good deal happier.
It coudl also be that the league did not want to pay, or was not able to reach agreement with, the NHLPA on costs for the rights to use players in these ads.
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"black cat is bad luck bad guys wear black must have been a white guy who started all that"................MC Search
DeuceUNO said:
Very simple, the players were all in training camp when the spots were shot. They had no time. Things will change when this marketing campaign ends.
Drake1588 said:
Well even this is ethnically confused. Sun Tzu was a Chinese general and strategist extraordinaire, while the Samurai code is probably best summed up in the Book of Five Rings! Different types of warriors and codes.
However I agree with the general sentiment that using real footage would be better. At first these ads did not bother me. If I see them in a movie theater, they seem okay, but if they are on during a game, they look fake because they are dark and the action looks too choreographed. It just feels wrong.
BigE
Registered User
As a business student I can see where they wanted to go with the commercials, but if this board is any indication of their success, the ads really haven't accomplished their intended goals.
The whole myNHL idea was great, but they didn't follow through on what "my" means in today's consumer market. My has come to stand for a deep association with something - my news, my this, my that...mine, not yours - and the NHL has failed to deliver the NHL in the manner that fans would like to see it. All that **** they promised: interviews, mics, tons of interactivity...we've seen very little of it.
The broadcasts have not been improved, and infact might just be worse: I assume everyone has watched OLN's 1970's game coverage.
They've also failed to establish links and grow the personalities of the game. The new guys (Crosby, Ovechkin, Phaneuf, Lundqvist...), the current guys (Spezza, Heatley, Gaborik, Nash, Iginla, etc.), and the prime vets (Lemieux, Shanahan, Forsberg, Sundin, Jagr, etc.). There is no connection there - certainly not on a national level. No, "oohh Jagr is coming to town," or "**** we've got Brodeur next Tuesday." The players are the sport, they sell the sport, and they help to grow the sport. The players are the greatest asset in any league; they go above and beyond the game in terms of selling ability. The NHL has completely failed in this department.
They had a year to think of what they wanted to do, and this is the best they can come up with? This is a nightmare as far as I'm concerned; it's sloppy and there is no excuse for it.
The whole myNHL idea was great, but they didn't follow through on what "my" means in today's consumer market. My has come to stand for a deep association with something - my news, my this, my that...mine, not yours - and the NHL has failed to deliver the NHL in the manner that fans would like to see it. All that **** they promised: interviews, mics, tons of interactivity...we've seen very little of it.
The broadcasts have not been improved, and infact might just be worse: I assume everyone has watched OLN's 1970's game coverage.
They've also failed to establish links and grow the personalities of the game. The new guys (Crosby, Ovechkin, Phaneuf, Lundqvist...), the current guys (Spezza, Heatley, Gaborik, Nash, Iginla, etc.), and the prime vets (Lemieux, Shanahan, Forsberg, Sundin, Jagr, etc.). There is no connection there - certainly not on a national level. No, "oohh Jagr is coming to town," or "**** we've got Brodeur next Tuesday." The players are the sport, they sell the sport, and they help to grow the sport. The players are the greatest asset in any league; they go above and beyond the game in terms of selling ability. The NHL has completely failed in this department.
They had a year to think of what they wanted to do, and this is the best they can come up with? This is a nightmare as far as I'm concerned; it's sloppy and there is no excuse for it.
BigE said:
Along the same vein, what would be the point of establishing a link when some players show up on in certain markets every third year? It isn't just the ads that are screwed up.
There are a lot of people on this board however who would tell you it is the "game" that needs to be sold or the "laundry", not the players. Had the NHL believed that players were the greatest asset, they probably would have devised an ad campaign that featured the players. In some way, they painted themselves into a corner because the players had been 'de-marketed' during the entire lockout, so it might have been difficult to turn around and have them on pedestals before the ink on the new agreement had dried.
Foster
Registered User
I've said it in a pervious thread when it comes to the TV deal...
NASCAR>NHL
...and when it comes to marketing it is the same way.
We need to learn something from the "southern folk" They turned there regional sport into something that people all across the nation want a piece of. This is a 800lb gorilla that isn't looseing ground. They are eating everything up, well except for the NHL.
Why you may ask? It's the characters that built the sport, the "King" Richard Petty, Dale Earnhart Sr "The Intimiadator", The Alabama Gang, and the rest of the good old buy's built a great sport. Now they have the likes of Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, voung guns, and veterans to continue the marketing gold that is stock car racing.
NHL??????
Some random guys that are warriors. There are people that could be sent out to everyone to be the next one, the great one, or that cagy old veteran. We need to make our own "Intimadators", "Kings, "Smoke", and characters that are also great players.
NASCAR>NHL
...and when it comes to marketing it is the same way.
We need to learn something from the "southern folk" They turned there regional sport into something that people all across the nation want a piece of. This is a 800lb gorilla that isn't looseing ground. They are eating everything up, well except for the NHL.
Why you may ask? It's the characters that built the sport, the "King" Richard Petty, Dale Earnhart Sr "The Intimiadator", The Alabama Gang, and the rest of the good old buy's built a great sport. Now they have the likes of Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, voung guns, and veterans to continue the marketing gold that is stock car racing.
NHL??????
Some random guys that are warriors. There are people that could be sent out to everyone to be the next one, the great one, or that cagy old veteran. We need to make our own "Intimadators", "Kings, "Smoke", and characters that are also great players.
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