NHL needs to improve marketing

[BAFGA 0]

if i could take over the NHL advertising abilities and the money available.....

i would beg/plead/force/threaten to get the bud light advertiing team to handle the commercials.

i would work my way through hollywood and contract stars that ARE hockey fans to step up and support the NHL and their favorite teams in commercial advertising/billboards/magazine ads.

i would hire GODSMACK (hardcore bruins fans) to release the rights to "whatever" as the new theme song for the NHL (violent,passionate,in your face,aggresive,attitude)video type commercials with fast paced images of hits,saves etc....

and this would be directed by Mr. Jerry "i will get a hockey team in las vegas" Bruckheimer....

the untapped potential of celebrities is astronomical....michael j fox, kiefer sutherland, denis leary, michael myers, garth brooks of all people!

come on people.....saving the NHL while keeping our dignity is easy....it just costs money, and a f***in clue.

They've tried this already with Denis Leary. It got to the point where I was sick of seeing him in NHL commercials. Michael J Fox has degraded so much it hurts to see him now. Mike Myers might do it, but he'd be only one. Keifer already does voiceover for some NHL stuff, I think.

Point is celebrities supporting the NHL wouldn't work, especially when you can't see them sitting next to the ice watching the game like you can see Jack Nicholson courtside at a Lakers game or Kid Rock at the Pistons. Do you really think someone like Spike Lee would start talking trash at another hockey player at the Garden like he does for the Knicks? It just wouldn't be the same. As for celebrities that do go to games, they are usually in a luxury suite chowing down on the food.

[Dixie Wingslover 0]

Just like MLB showcasing the Yankees/Red Sox; the NHL should do the same with teams you've just mentioned...As somebody else pointed out - what's wrong with the idea of broadcasting the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada on Versus, or NBC each & every Saturday night?.....NBC could air the CBC feed before Saturday Night Live; do a skit with ex-SNL guys from Canada ie Mike Meyers, Dan Akroyd, Norm McDonald, Mark McKinney, maybe add Jim Carey, or Jim Belushi (big Blackhawks fan) etc etc...They could have "special guests" like Probert, McSorley, Grimson, Wendel Clark, Neeley, Brett Hull, etc etc. Unlike many other pro atheletes - most hockey players are down to earth, approachable, & have great senses of humor.

This isn't rocket science.

I can tell you why you won't see Hockey Night in Canada on Versus on Saturday nights..... PBR -as in Built Ford Tough Series Professional Bull Riding. It is growing in ratings and taking over Versus on the week ends. People are watching, and I can tell you why.... ( I watch, when Wings are not on ).

These guys are tough, tough as nails tough. Not a question of if they will get hurt..... question is when, and how bad. As a fan of gritting it out, I have seen these guys ride, with concussions, torn tendons, broken bones, broken necks, busted up faces, torn up knees, ironically, if they are some of the MINORITY that wears face protection.... they wear a hockey mask.

It is fast..... If they make their entire ride, it is 8 seconds. They can ride 3 or more bulls between Friday and Sunday nights. More rides if the bull pusses out and the judges don't think he bucked hard enough.... he gets a re ride at a better score, watched a month ago and one kid got on 4 bulls in one night, virtually one after the other..... ended when he didn't make the 8 seconds on the last. And then, once off the bull, sometimes they have to get away. Pretty much every night you see someone knocked silly and every other guy is riding hurt. Let's talk about the money..... literally hundreds of thousands of dollars a weekend, Most times the winner takes home 100,000 plus..... if he gets into the shootout by winning the go round, he gets a shot at a rank bull that the pot goes up on every time he tosses a rider before 8 seconds.....

There is international participation.... riders from Brazil, Australia, Canada, US

Does any of this sound familiar????

NIche sport on the rise, speed violence toughness, prizes perceived blue collar/lower class, international.......crucial difference I see is ...... one has a good marketing campaign - other doesn't

Edited June 11, 2007 by Dixie Wingslover

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

I was thinking about this on the drive home from work. It could evolve into interesting cross-promotion.

For instance... show a receiver getting creamed going across the middle, fade into Holstrom. "If you think that's a hit check this out" and go into either some good hits or Holstrom getting beaten up in front of the goal.

Show a one handed catch and have Crosby or Datsyuk come in with "that's skill but this is talent. Enter pretty goal montage.

Reverse it with Oveckin's (?) on his back goal and show a great catch montage...

Neither league would go for it but it's an idea

I had a similar thought, but to target the ads specifically during football playoffs. The theme being what football fans can watch once the Super Bowl is over. It'd be expensive as hell, but they could run a final ad during the Superbowl. Show some depressed football fan discovering hockey.

And like you said, show some great NFL play with a receiver getting hit. Then show a crushing hit in hockey.

A runningback juking through defenders, Crobsy scoring on a 1-on-4.

So it's not so much saying hockey is better than football, but that fans can get all the things they love about football from a hockey game.

And for chrissakes, have the NHL promote its star players in these ads. Give casual or non-hockey fans a name they can associate with a team.

[Guest jaytan]

Bull riding?

Are you kidding me?

[Dixie Wingslover 0]

It also goes to show that many of the owners don't care either since Bettman works for them

My point EXACTLY!!!! We have a problem with an employee.... Fairy Buttman, what do you do if a clerk in a store does a miserable job and screws you over???? You complain to his boss. Who is Bettman's boss???? The owners. Some of the owners, I am sure will agree with us.... like Mr Ilitch, who rumor has it is one of the owners who ended up last lockout with the gag order, because he didn't support Bettman in the first one. Other owners are insulated against the hard core fans, the ones who support their franchise. My idea is that we get a letter writing campaign going..... not of the "you suck" variety, but thoughful, well spelled and gramatically correct to the owners of our respective teams, let them know what we really think of the way the league has been managed, and the owners money..... they are investors in the team/business. Bettman was hired to protect their investments and he has done a really poor job. They need this brought to their attention. Repeatedly. Frequently. Anybody out there got any addresses email or snail mail?

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

They should also run segments during games to highlight the history and rules of the game.

I wouldn't want to see a 5 minute piece on offsides, but they could do a quick bit on too many men on the ice. or hooking. But make it interesting and preferably funny. And use NHL players in the segments.

Then they could also show some clips of hockey's history. Ideally it would involve one of the teams from the current game. Give some backstory, history, highlight, anything to learn more about that team and about the game.

sadly though, the nhl continues to have the lamest marketing of any pro sport.

[Dixie Wingslover 0]

Bull riding?

Are you kidding me?

It's getting more play than hockey..... and you gotta ask why. Have you watched it on the weekend? Gotta watch PBR cuz it makes the stuff they show on ESPN look like your granny in a Buick. Versus has some clips on their site, check it out......http://www.olntv.com/broadband_player_popup//pbr_player_popup/?artID=37842&catID=454

The Mauney kid is 19 years old, check some of the wrecks..... and quite frankly, can't beat some of the bulls names...

[hawkupaloogie 0]

It's getting more play than hockey..... and you gotta ask why. Have you watched it on the weekend? Gotta watch PBR cuz it makes the stuff they show on ESPN look like your granny in a Buick. Versus has some clips on their site, check it out......http://www.olntv.com/broadband_player_popup//pbr_player_popup/?artID=37842&catID=454

The Mauney kid is 19 years old, check some of the wrecks..... and quite frankly, can't beat some of the bulls names...

another bullriding fan?!?!?! i never thought i'd see that here.

if anyone wants to see more clips, or just some basic info, check out pbrnow.com. i absolutely love these guys. justin mcbride, cory rasch, travis briscoe, brenden clark, chris shivers, they're all great. they actually remind me a lot of hockey players. completely badass, typically humble, down to earth, easy to talk to, blue collar, tough as nails etc. plus, the way the pbr works, you're always seeing the best bulls and riders. there's the "built ford tough" series, then the "challenger" series. the lowest point getters in the bft series get switched out with the top point getters in the challenger series. the stuff on espn and fsd is a joke. it's typically the prca, not the pbr. both the bulls and riders are worse.

then there are the bulls. contrary to popular belief, these animals are NOT abused. they're bred and trained to buck, and if you watch certain bulls (see little yellow jacket [recently retired] or my personal favourite: reindeer dippin), they love every minute of it. lyj would even stop in the middle of the arena after he bucked off a rider, kinda look into the stands, then strut out the shoot, it was hilarious. so much personality with them.

the promotions the pbr has are great, too. after every event, the riders go around signing autographs. there's a big promotion going on now that will give a share of a top bull to a winner for a year. of course, there's also fantasy bull riding. pbr fans are popping up everywhere. they just had the first world cup with riders from the u.s., canada, brazil, mexico and australia in teams. there's now events all over the u.s. (including grand rapids, and auburn hills), with others in mexico and australia.

ok...i'im done gushing

[vangvace 12]

I had a similar thought, but to target the ads specifically during football playoffs. The theme being what football fans can watch once the Super Bowl is over. It'd be expensive as hell, but they could run a final ad during the Superbowl. Show some depressed football fan discovering hockey.

And like you said, show some great NFL play with a receiver getting hit. Then show a crushing hit in hockey.

A runningback juking through defenders, Crobsy scoring on a 1-on-4.

So it's not so much saying hockey is better than football, but that fans can get all the things they love about football from a hockey game.

And for chrissakes, have the NHL promote its star players in these ads. Give casual or non-hockey fans a name they can associate with a team.

Agreed. I think I made it sound like NFL bashing in my post, but it was ment more to show how they're similar and poke a little fun at each other too. Even maybe give football fans something to watch Tues-Fri nights.

You may even be able to do it with other sports as well, but I think football would be the best bet to try this partnership with.

[Production Line 1]

Thats what they are doing, instead of trying to gain more fans the change the jerseys so the die hard fans have to go out and update...

[regwinguofmfan 0]

The NHL is marketed about as well as Soccer is in the US.

The difference, Soccer is the most popular sport everywhere in the world but here and hockey is only the most popular sport in Canada.

We have alot of foreign nationals here so soccer will be poular, hockey not so much.

The NHL has absolutely no idea how to market their sport and the ideas they come up with make them look silly.

Maybe they should take a look and the NFL for marketing tips, they were not popular at one time either.

The NHL just seems to make on wildly bad decision after another.

In the early 90's, the NHL had a hayday. Why dont they look back and see what is different from then till now?

[EastLansingNative 1]

Not surprisingly, it looks like they're hiring.

Link

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Not surprisingly, it looks like they're hiring.

Link

Pretty funny. They're hiring in Detroit for a Season Ticket rep.

[Dixie Wingslover 0]

another bullriding fan?!?!?! i never thought i'd see that here.

if anyone wants to see more clips, or just some basic info, check out pbrnow.com. i absolutely love these guys. justin mcbride, cory rasch, travis briscoe, brenden clark, chris shivers, they're all great. they actually remind me a lot of hockey players. completely badass, typically humble, down to earth, easy to talk to, blue collar, tough as nails etc. plus, the way the pbr works, you're always seeing the best bulls and riders. there's the "built ford tough" series, then the "challenger" series. the lowest point getters in the bft series get switched out with the top point getters in the challenger series. the stuff on espn and fsd is a joke. it's typically the prca, not the pbr. both the bulls and riders are worse.

then there are the bulls. contrary to popular belief, these animals are NOT abused. they're bred and trained to buck, and if you watch certain bulls (see little yellow jacket [recently retired] or my personal favourite: reindeer dippin), they love every minute of it. lyj would even stop in the middle of the arena after he bucked off a rider, kinda look into the stands, then strut out the shoot, it was hilarious. so much personality with them.

the promotions the pbr has are great, too. after every event, the riders go around signing autographs. there's a big promotion going on now that will give a share of a top bull to a winner for a year. of course, there's also fantasy bull riding. pbr fans are popping up everywhere. they just had the first world cup with riders from the u.s., canada, brazil, mexico and australia in teams. there's now events all over the u.s. (including grand rapids, and auburn hills), with others in mexico and australia.

ok...i'im done gushing

Funny.... the sports are very similar..... except how the PBR is marketed.... and it is SLICK.

OT - I have this ranch and farm channel on my satellite, and one of the livestock auctions was bucking calves and heifers...... several of Reindeer Dippins 1 month old calves went for over $5000...... amazing...... did you know that the best contractors buck their cows to verify heart????? These animals are totally bred for bucking.

[Seraph 240]

Seattle Predators! Portland Thrashers!

I'm down with that, actually.

The NHL needs to make the game itself accessible to kids. I think that's how you really get people interested in a sport. Basketball and football are everywhere because all you need is a ball and a few kids and you're set. Then you can go home and empathize with the struggles the professionals are going through. It's not like that with hockey. If it's made more accessible, people will eventually be more interested. I don't think there is a short term solution for the lack of fans.

[hawkupaloogie 0]

Funny.... the sports are very similar..... except how the PBR is marketed.... and it is SLICK.

OT - I have this ranch and farm channel on my satellite, and one of the livestock auctions was bucking calves and heifers...... several of Reindeer Dippins 1 month old calves went for over $5000...... amazing...... did you know that the best contractors buck their cows to verify heart????? These animals are totally bred for bucking.

is the channel RFD? i get that at home, i like it for some of their horse training shows. reindeer's an awesome bull, i'm not surprised his offspring are selling high.

i'm surprised more sports fans don't get into bullriding, especially hockey, football and nascar (if you count that as a sport) fans. i think, much like hockey, people just haven't given it much of a chance, or don't grow up around it to realize how much fun it is. i love how it's growing, though. i was stoked to find out there's now an event at the palace. unfortunately, i'm stuck in the u.p. until i finish school, or else i'd be there.