EHM The Blue Line

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOLEvbJvCX0

On a rock (+4) to roll (-4) scale what do you think of the NHL commercial for the playoffs that combines a movie preview with a playoffs ad?



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That is full on awesome marketing! Cannot recall the guy's name who is directing the ads for the NHL, but he is a big movie director/producer "Thank you for Not Smoking" Guy. This is a great new approach.

I think one of my favorite aspects of hockey is the toughness and dedication in the sport. In that regards, I love the warrior/spartan references of all type. Combined with the fact that the equipment used is much akin to wearning nearly a full set of armor and it's a great matchup.

(To be honest, I don't care how good the movie is, the main charachter, i don't know if it's effects or his own voice making the tone, has such a commanding voice that i'm looking forward to his lines alone)

"Our pucks will blot out the lights"
"Then our goalie will make saves in the shade"

I just saw this commercial for the first time last week. I had a big grin on my face all the way through. Very creative! There's really a nice parallel between the two. Plus, I'm really interested in seeing this movie. I love the visual aesthetic of it.

In terms of production, it was great, and they did a really nice job with it.

Though, I feel the whole NHL tough-guy/warrior image thing is getting old and kind of lame. We missed an entire year of hockey so they can implement skill/offense/finesse encouraging rules... then they promote the league as an XFL-smash-everyone's-head-off sort of league.

I can see your point, but I think of the warrior references as still being applicable. If you think about it, the greatest warriors were not the strongest, they were the most skilled (although strength DID help)

maybe doing some sort of montage comparing some of the different styles of players with different types of warriors? IE, a speedy agile player being a fencer, one of the big physical players being a knight, a lady byng type player (which would be hard to reference) being a samurai, etc?

I do think physicality has it's place in the new NHL and still should be promoted, but they should, like you said, continue to promote the offense as well.

This movie is being advertised with EVERYTHING. It's so weird. I think its taking over the world.

E5150_ca wrote:This movie is being advertised with EVERYTHING. It's so weird. I think its taking over the world.

I like that, even though it's being heavily advertised, I have yet to see anything super cheesy, like spartan sized chips. Probably the weakest tie in i've seen is the Myspace "Build your army of 300" photo links, but i've never really looked into it.

Pretty good.

It's missing something and I don't know what it is otherwise it would be a 4.

Just something about it just seems out of place...

That's ridiculous, not a fan at all.

Liked it, but could have been more about the players, just the audio track in the background and less clips about the movie itself.

I'm waiting anxiously to see the movie btw.

The NHL is in big trouble if it had to mix it up with "hoped" succesful movie to win fans...

I thought the idea was a great example of thinking outside the box and tying together excitement for a super-hyped movie and an exciting time in the league. Really this was a win-win for the NHL I think which could certainly use to have a higher profile and I love that this really engages you and draws you in.

Even though everyone knows I hate stupid marketing/naming things like the COLD-FX NHL All-Star Game brought to you by 2k Sports, I thought this was a good synergy along the "epic battles" theme. It's not often you can mix old school sentiment with cutting edge marketing and have it work, so I thought it was pretty badass and a rather smart idea really.

I liked it. Although, I agree with inSTAALed - there was something missing. I'm super psyched about the movie - I'm going to the midnight IMAX screening. I do like the NHL's plan to get a little 'hipper', but I think more humourous ads would be to their advantage. For example, the ads that were on NHL.com with the Sedins and the AO/Crosby/Hotel one were absolutely hilarious and right up my alley!

I think that this represents a step in the right direction for the NHL, that is getting itself involved more with the mainstream media in the United States. Even just having Americans think more about the league and the sport is a positive outcome.

Hilarious adds, but my understanding is that the Sedins were NOT happy at all with it. They were told that they weren't going to be dancing, but come the day of the shoot they got roped into it. I don't think you'll be seeing them in anymore league commercials.

Speaking of glitches, my splitting of the threads as people can't stay on topic resulted in too many posts being moved So...

The Hutch wrote:One big drawback though, how many 300 enthusiasts would be sold on the game of hockey by this association marketing? Aside from what I mentioned previously, that being to insert the knowledge of playoff hockey into the minds of casual viewers, this certainly wouldn't do anything to attract new fans.

archibalduk wrote:I gave it just a 1 (:thup:) - It is pretty darn cool but it's not the first time I've seen this done (Sky Sports do it all the time). I'd have been more impressed had it been the first sports commercial of this kind that I've seen.