Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Relight My Fire (TAKE THAT!)
The NHL is back, and it feels just a bit odd to me. It might have been a 2-week break, but it feels a lot longer than that to me. How about you? Did it feel weird watching NHL hockey after Olympic hockey? It's just such a weird jolt to go quickly from Olympic hockey to NHL hockey and resume the regular season.
Some Swede love...
Here is a great video clip of the Swedes, in Stockholm, celebrating their gold medal victory. Cold weather, thousands of Swedes...I imagine this is what hell must look like.
And...here is Peter Forsberg dancing with the minister of culture (you gotta wait for a dumb ad to play first). No further comment necessary.
As for the Olympics themselves, doesn't it seem like the NHL is trying hard to sweep the whole thing under the rug like it never happened? I mean, they go out of their way to cancel the All-Star Game (no big loss), make room in the schedule, and promote the event. Then, when it's all over, the players barely get a minute to celebrate and the league is berating the Swedes for even taking the time to go back to Sweden and dance around like frickin...err...Swedes.
Look, the Olympics are a hellabig deal to the Euros and it's obvious that the country of Sweden was pretty damn pleased as spiked punch to win the men's hockey gold medal. Would it be so hard to grant an extra day before restarting the NHL schedule? Do you really expect Mats Sundin to just get on the plane straight back to Toronto and say "OK, that crap is over, bring on the Sabres."?
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Random thoughts from watching the Canucks beat the Flames 2-1 last night.
The Canucks beat the Flames? Wow...
You know things are bad when your top PK defence pair is Bryan Allen and...SVEN BUTENSCHON(!), you better get out the Costco-sized b.
...and when Richard Park is manning the point on the Power Play. It's like Ray Whitney, minus all of the offensively ability.
Steve McCarthy played a career high 21 minutes yesterday, which may be the tonic to help spike his development and turn him into a decent regular. For a first round pick, he's been disappointing. He played well last night, and maybe the extra responsibility will really turn his game around. The extra ice time is also going to be a big benefit to Kevin Bieksa and Tomas Mojzis.
Does Todd Bertuzzi have some unknown disease that causes him great pain if he breaks a sweat? It seems like it. Yet again, Bertuzzi was floating around the ice while Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund showed the necessary hustle to team up for the Canucks first goal.
I'm no big Dan Cloutier booster, but the Canucks really do need him back. Maxime Ouellet has only started 3 games and played 222 minutes since Cloutier was injured and Alex (B)Auld has been ridden like the proverbial lone horse on a frontier family's farm. It's obvious that Marc Crawford has little faith in Ouellet (and seeing him play, it's easy to see why), but Alex Auld should not be ridden so damn hard in his first stint as the Canucks #1 goalie. Alex has played well, but the law of diminishing returns does kick in at some point and the Canucks need someone good behind him to give him some rest and give the Canucks another option.
Fortunately, the break seemed to do Alex Auld a world of good and he was great in last night's win. This is the kind of game that I would not expect Dan Cloutier to win unless he had one of those miracle nights.
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It's been awhile since I've talked about those New NHL ads and you don't hear much about them anymore.
I saw the final ad in the series quite a few times last night, and I have to say it was a complete load of crap.
What do we get? We get generic (and ugly) mono-colour uniforms, contrived 'action', nameless and faceless players put in a blender until we come up with Crème-de-la-crap.
The first ads, with the warrior getting prepared for battle, worked on SOME level. I wasn't big on them, as were many others, but I could see how they might work. They were passable and a bit edgy, and they had people talking.
It's too bad the NHL didn't stop there, because their series of ads went quickly downhill from there.
The worst part? Some smug self-important ad execs are getting paid 6 figures to come out with this crap and will probably go home thinking that they are actually good at their jobs.
If the NHL was so eager to spend money, here's some free advice: Take the money and buy the rights to a popular up-tempo rock/medal song (maybe something by Kid Rock). Put together a fast-paced montage of highlights from Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Marek Svatos, and Dion Phaneuf. Crank up that sucker and promote the young faces that will lead this league for some time. Promote names and promote action.
Trust me, this would be a lot more effective than the MyNHL ads.
Some Swede love...
Here is a great video clip of the Swedes, in Stockholm, celebrating their gold medal victory. Cold weather, thousands of Swedes...I imagine this is what hell must look like.
And...here is Peter Forsberg dancing with the minister of culture (you gotta wait for a dumb ad to play first). No further comment necessary.
As for the Olympics themselves, doesn't it seem like the NHL is trying hard to sweep the whole thing under the rug like it never happened? I mean, they go out of their way to cancel the All-Star Game (no big loss), make room in the schedule, and promote the event. Then, when it's all over, the players barely get a minute to celebrate and the league is berating the Swedes for even taking the time to go back to Sweden and dance around like frickin...err...Swedes.
Look, the Olympics are a hellabig deal to the Euros and it's obvious that the country of Sweden was pretty damn pleased as spiked punch to win the men's hockey gold medal. Would it be so hard to grant an extra day before restarting the NHL schedule? Do you really expect Mats Sundin to just get on the plane straight back to Toronto and say "OK, that crap is over, bring on the Sabres."?
---
Random thoughts from watching the Canucks beat the Flames 2-1 last night.
Fortunately, the break seemed to do Alex Auld a world of good and he was great in last night's win. This is the kind of game that I would not expect Dan Cloutier to win unless he had one of those miracle nights.
---
It's been awhile since I've talked about those New NHL ads and you don't hear much about them anymore.
I saw the final ad in the series quite a few times last night, and I have to say it was a complete load of crap.
What do we get? We get generic (and ugly) mono-colour uniforms, contrived 'action', nameless and faceless players put in a blender until we come up with Crème-de-la-crap.
The first ads, with the warrior getting prepared for battle, worked on SOME level. I wasn't big on them, as were many others, but I could see how they might work. They were passable and a bit edgy, and they had people talking.
It's too bad the NHL didn't stop there, because their series of ads went quickly downhill from there.
The worst part? Some smug self-important ad execs are getting paid 6 figures to come out with this crap and will probably go home thinking that they are actually good at their jobs.
If the NHL was so eager to spend money, here's some free advice: Take the money and buy the rights to a popular up-tempo rock/medal song (maybe something by Kid Rock). Put together a fast-paced montage of highlights from Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Marek Svatos, and Dion Phaneuf. Crank up that sucker and promote the young faces that will lead this league for some time. Promote names and promote action.
Trust me, this would be a lot more effective than the MyNHL ads.
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not to be a stickler (which is always said before being a stickler) but the law of diminising returns has NOTHING to do with what you suggested, in fact that law, if applied to hockey, would suggest just the opposite that with each additional competent person you add to the goal tending corp, the less additional output your team will get.
ok now on to the real stuff. nhl and advertising in the states.. they don't do it. period. their best recieved ads ever were basically snl alums announcing the strike was over (the LAST strike) "GAME ON!" you rock garth! (and not the butcher one either)
nhl has generally relied on its television partner and its teams to advertise on local levels. the blues are habitually the best at this (won the award from the nhl last three seasons i believe, which tells you something, the nhl has a major award for individual team advertising campaigns!!) do you bleed blue? of course the blues lost its best human (who was its best marketer) in the strike so we will see.
so the net of all this? the nhl has never even tried to grow its brand outside its home cities, and likely never will while buttman is in charge. nba markets to kids on cartoon network for pete's sake! baseball players and ads are all over.. hockey? your local network and oln only.
as for me? i'd run "the distance" by cake at the start of the playoffs, with the best of last seasons playoff goals/hits/passes/fan reactions/ darts throw at buttman/ vids
can't be worse than what they WILL do... which is what they always do at playoff time.
ok now on to the real stuff. nhl and advertising in the states.. they don't do it. period. their best recieved ads ever were basically snl alums announcing the strike was over (the LAST strike) "GAME ON!" you rock garth! (and not the butcher one either)
nhl has generally relied on its television partner and its teams to advertise on local levels. the blues are habitually the best at this (won the award from the nhl last three seasons i believe, which tells you something, the nhl has a major award for individual team advertising campaigns!!) do you bleed blue? of course the blues lost its best human (who was its best marketer) in the strike so we will see.
so the net of all this? the nhl has never even tried to grow its brand outside its home cities, and likely never will while buttman is in charge. nba markets to kids on cartoon network for pete's sake! baseball players and ads are all over.. hockey? your local network and oln only.
as for me? i'd run "the distance" by cake at the start of the playoffs, with the best of last seasons playoff goals/hits/passes/fan reactions/ darts throw at buttman/ vids
can't be worse than what they WILL do... which is what they always do at playoff time.
# posted by 
: 8:31 am
: 8:31 am
If the NHL was so eager to spend money, here's some free advice: Take the money and buy the rights to a popular up-tempo rock/medal song (maybe something by Kid Rock). Put together a fast-paced montage of highlights from Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Marek Svatos, and Dion Phaneuf. Crank up that sucker and promote the young faces that will lead this league for some time. Promote names and promote action.
Trust me, this would be a lot more effective than the MyNHL ads.
AMEN!! I *still* can't stand the MyNHL ads...and in all honesty, I sometimes don't know why. I guess I can never shake off how the one with the player getting dressed by some priestess-type still reminds me of an Axe ad (and let's not even start on how those ads have gotten UBER-WEIRD lately...the Temple/Church of the Serpentine? WTF?!)...
Trust me, this would be a lot more effective than the MyNHL ads.
AMEN!! I *still* can't stand the MyNHL ads...and in all honesty, I sometimes don't know why. I guess I can never shake off how the one with the player getting dressed by some priestess-type still reminds me of an Axe ad (and let's not even start on how those ads have gotten UBER-WEIRD lately...the Temple/Church of the Serpentine? WTF?!)...
I'd love to see an NHL ad that puts a camera behind a simulated goalie mask. Let the viewing public see what a 100 mph slapshot looks like hurtling towards your mellon. Let them see what Holmstrom's ass looks like up close and personal when there's traffic in front of the net. Put a micro-camera on Darius Kasparitis' helmet and let the public see cheap shotting in real time. The ads miss the speed and ferocity of the game. A dasher cam tracking an Erik Cole breakaway culminating in a goalie collision would also be sweet. Not a lot of hyperbole. Just speed, sweat, power, and collision. I loved that old (dare I say it?) Nike ad that had Naslund and Kovalcheat chasing each other around.
# posted by : 3:14 pm
: 3:14 pm
What langauge were Forsberg and Sundin speaking in that clip? ...it sounded like some ancient form of Pig Latin?
For those NHL ads - not sure what Madison Avenue agency Bettman hired to come up with that concpet, but it would appear to be the same one that Gillette uses to sell their new five-bladed razor. Bang on with the highlight reel approach....everyone loves those "Plays of the day/week/month/year" segments regardless of what sport it is. If they went that route, maybe they could put one spot together that would include that Brian Bellows clip from http://www.broadstreetbully.com
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For those NHL ads - not sure what Madison Avenue agency Bettman hired to come up with that concpet, but it would appear to be the same one that Gillette uses to sell their new five-bladed razor. Bang on with the highlight reel approach....everyone loves those "Plays of the day/week/month/year" segments regardless of what sport it is. If they went that route, maybe they could put one spot together that would include that Brian Bellows clip from http://www.broadstreetbully.com
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