Saturday, May 10, 2008
Photo of the Day: Boston's Sharp Promotion
Normally, I tune out advertising much like I tune out the ramblings of a street preacher, but I can appreciate advertising that is well done and unique.
For instance, take the Boston Bruins and their Gillette zamboni.
According to Gillette's marketing shill, the promotion is very 'cutting edge'. Yuk yuk
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Speaking of Yuk, YUCK! Here's a wacky story about Austria's rugby team.
The Austrian Rugby team has responded to their 48-0 thrashing by Lithuania on Saturday by staging a mass striptease in the capital, Vilnius, on Saturday night.
The team was captured on camera during the public strip and the video has ended up on social community website Virb. The video shows a group of about 20 men singing and stripping off their kit on a Vilnius street while people in a bar clap and cheer.
For instance, take the Boston Bruins and their Gillette zamboni.
According to Gillette's marketing shill, the promotion is very 'cutting edge'. Yuk yuk
---
Speaking of Yuk, YUCK! Here's a wacky story about Austria's rugby team.
The Austrian Rugby team has responded to their 48-0 thrashing by Lithuania on Saturday by staging a mass striptease in the capital, Vilnius, on Saturday night.
The team was captured on camera during the public strip and the video has ended up on social community website Virb. The video shows a group of about 20 men singing and stripping off their kit on a Vilnius street while people in a bar clap and cheer.
Labels: advertisements, Austria
Monday, February 18, 2008
OMFG, Advertising on NHL Uniforms?
by Jes
Normally, concepts and ideas from Europe (such as legalized prostitution, no-touch icing, not going ape-crap over half of an exposed nipple) show how behind-the-times and small-minded North Americans really are.
There are exceptions, however, to every rule, especially when it comes to hockey.
Anyone who has ever seen some semblance of European hockey knows that the entire experience is littered with advertising. It's not enough that the boards and ice surface likes look a NASCAR car, but the players' sweaters, themselves, make the players into skating billboards.
Instead of prominently feature a team logo, you get sweaters covered in enough advertising to make you sick. Hell, some Euroclubs are even named after a team sponsor (such as Chemopetrol Litvinov, HC MOUNTFIELD (Ceske Budejovice), and HC Energie Karlovy Vary.
Given how much advertising we're subjected to already, do NHL fans really want MORE of that crap?
The one 'sacred' aspect of the NHL, compared to Europe, is that the players' uniforms have remained relatively logo free. Sure, there has been logo creep on the sweaters, but we'll accept a logo on a piece of equipment that belongs to the maker of said product.
I always liked that I could look, or wear, an NHL uniform and have it all about the team colours, design, and logo. NHL uniforms are fairly clean and crisp, and are the one bit of freedom we have from the corporate messaging we are submitted to every minute of every game.
Unfortunately, greed tends to prevail in this society, and now we have NHL goaltenders clamouring to sell themselves as corporate shills.
Oh, cue the rich quote from Dwayne Roloson.
If this should ever pass, I suggest every NHL fan boo the living hell out of these empty souls and endeavour to put their fanship into goaltenders who don't submit themselves to the will of corporate assholes. It's pretty sad that these boys, who are already well-off, would feel the need to pimp themselves out as propaganda whores to the highest bidder.
Normally, concepts and ideas from Europe (such as legalized prostitution, no-touch icing, not going ape-crap over half of an exposed nipple) show how behind-the-times and small-minded North Americans really are.
There are exceptions, however, to every rule, especially when it comes to hockey.
Anyone who has ever seen some semblance of European hockey knows that the entire experience is littered with advertising. It's not enough that the boards and ice surface likes look a NASCAR car, but the players' sweaters, themselves, make the players into skating billboards.
Instead of prominently feature a team logo, you get sweaters covered in enough advertising to make you sick. Hell, some Euroclubs are even named after a team sponsor (such as Chemopetrol Litvinov, HC MOUNTFIELD (Ceske Budejovice), and HC Energie Karlovy Vary.
Given how much advertising we're subjected to already, do NHL fans really want MORE of that crap?
The one 'sacred' aspect of the NHL, compared to Europe, is that the players' uniforms have remained relatively logo free. Sure, there has been logo creep on the sweaters, but we'll accept a logo on a piece of equipment that belongs to the maker of said product.
I always liked that I could look, or wear, an NHL uniform and have it all about the team colours, design, and logo. NHL uniforms are fairly clean and crisp, and are the one bit of freedom we have from the corporate messaging we are submitted to every minute of every game.
Unfortunately, greed tends to prevail in this society, and now we have NHL goaltenders clamouring to sell themselves as corporate shills.
A group of influential NHLers is asking the league and the players' union to consider placing corporate logos on jerseys as a way to generate new revenues, according to a Toronto Star report published yesterday.Do these idiots not make enough money as it is? Do they really have no shame in slapping on some generic corporate logos onto their clothing to make a few extra bucks?
The group which includes New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, Dallas's Marty Turco, Detroit's Dominik Hasek and Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson is proposing the creation of a Goaltender's Club.
The idea is to sell space for ads on the jerseys of the league's netminders.
Hockey marketer Brad Robins and Edmonton player agent Ritch Winter are working with the players and they estimate on-uniform ads could generate upwards of $30 million a season for the NHL.
"This is the wave of the future," Winter told the Star. "The NHL isn't as profitable as other leagues, and we have very little choice but to pursue new ways to create revenue so we can reinvest in our sport. It's just a way to pay the bills."
Oh, cue the rich quote from Dwayne Roloson.
Roloson shrugs off the prospect of criticism from traditionalists.Doesn't take away from the true jersey look?? O.... K....
"I think it's a great way to grow (hockey-related revenue)," he told the Star. "They have (uniform ads) in Europe and it doesn't take away from the true jersey look."
If this should ever pass, I suggest every NHL fan boo the living hell out of these empty souls and endeavour to put their fanship into goaltenders who don't submit themselves to the will of corporate assholes. It's pretty sad that these boys, who are already well-off, would feel the need to pimp themselves out as propaganda whores to the highest bidder.
Labels: advertisements, european hockey, marketing, NHL, rants
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Hockey in the '70s
by Greg
For a variety of reasons, I recently came into possession of a bunch of hockey programs from the '70s and '80s. In addition to research material, one of them -- a Colorado Rockies-Spartak Moscow program from 1978 -- provides a glimpse back at a forgotten era.
In addition to the typical "Goal Magazine" articles ("Is Dennis Kearns the NHL's Next Big Star?" or "Guy Lombardo: Hockey Fan!"), it's got some great (kitschy-great, not great-great) ads. Many of them are for local Denver bars which went out of business well before I reached drinking age, such as this one:
Translation: "After another soul-destroying loss, I drink the pain away at the Good Life." Maybe it's my imagination, but isn't there some law (going back decades) saying that active professional athletes can't endorse booze? I suppose Paul Gardner is technically endorsing "The Good Life Eating Emporium" (and when was the last time you went to an Eating Emporium?), and just mentioning that he happens to like to have some drinks (and rest his ankles) there. In any case, this canny campaign didn't help the Good Life -- it's long gone, and judging by Google Maps' satellite view, it's now a vacant lot.
Chillingly, it was once considered not only acceptable, but even fashionable to go out wearing a red sweater, gray shirt, brown jacket, dark pants, and blue-yellow sneakers. Thankfully, we live in more enlightened times now, and you'll rarely see this sartorial combination outside of Detroit. Note the (sensibly-dressed) woman in the background -- she appears to be horrified that the Flower's going out in public like that. This ad -- along with Ron Duguay's Sassoon jeans campaign -- is largely responsible for hockey's inability to make more headway in the U.S.
There's plenty more of this stuff, but I'll put the scanning off 'til some other day. I'm just trying to kill time before free agency begins, and we move closer to resolving a burning question: where will Tomas Kloucek end up?
For a variety of reasons, I recently came into possession of a bunch of hockey programs from the '70s and '80s. In addition to research material, one of them -- a Colorado Rockies-Spartak Moscow program from 1978 -- provides a glimpse back at a forgotten era.
In addition to the typical "Goal Magazine" articles ("Is Dennis Kearns the NHL's Next Big Star?" or "Guy Lombardo: Hockey Fan!"), it's got some great (kitschy-great, not great-great) ads. Many of them are for local Denver bars which went out of business well before I reached drinking age, such as this one:
Translation: "After another soul-destroying loss, I drink the pain away at the Good Life." Maybe it's my imagination, but isn't there some law (going back decades) saying that active professional athletes can't endorse booze? I suppose Paul Gardner is technically endorsing "The Good Life Eating Emporium" (and when was the last time you went to an Eating Emporium?), and just mentioning that he happens to like to have some drinks (and rest his ankles) there. In any case, this canny campaign didn't help the Good Life -- it's long gone, and judging by Google Maps' satellite view, it's now a vacant lot.
Chillingly, it was once considered not only acceptable, but even fashionable to go out wearing a red sweater, gray shirt, brown jacket, dark pants, and blue-yellow sneakers. Thankfully, we live in more enlightened times now, and you'll rarely see this sartorial combination outside of Detroit. Note the (sensibly-dressed) woman in the background -- she appears to be horrified that the Flower's going out in public like that. This ad -- along with Ron Duguay's Sassoon jeans campaign -- is largely responsible for hockey's inability to make more headway in the U.S.
There's plenty more of this stuff, but I'll put the scanning off 'til some other day. I'm just trying to kill time before free agency begins, and we move closer to resolving a burning question: where will Tomas Kloucek end up?
Labels: 1970s, advertisements, guy lafleur
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Swedish Advertising Update
by Greg
There are days when motivation runs low, and for whatever reason, one of your bigger accomplishments is a slow surf through Swedish hockey sites (I think I was looking for a Pavel Trnka update) while lying on the couch.
Such a search actually proved slightly rewarding yesterday. If it wasn't for my utter torpor, I would never have found out about this:
The rather scared-looking fellow is Luleå goalie Mattias Modig; winding up to shoot is forward Robin Lindqvist.
As far as I can tell (I can't read Swedish -- though yes, thanks, I can read the "No Action Without Protection" bit), it's all part of a safe sex campaign. Certainly one I support, and hopefully quite effective. I'm trying and failing to imagine a North American team, especially down in the region where I live, taking on a similar task -- and I'm really having a hard time imagining NHL players suiting up for similar ads. I would imagine Modig is taking a bit of ribbing around the Elitserien for his role.
(The second, less-goofy ad is here. I wonder if the condom company paid a product placement fee...)
There are days when motivation runs low, and for whatever reason, one of your bigger accomplishments is a slow surf through Swedish hockey sites (I think I was looking for a Pavel Trnka update) while lying on the couch.
Such a search actually proved slightly rewarding yesterday. If it wasn't for my utter torpor, I would never have found out about this:
The rather scared-looking fellow is Luleå goalie Mattias Modig; winding up to shoot is forward Robin Lindqvist.
As far as I can tell (I can't read Swedish -- though yes, thanks, I can read the "No Action Without Protection" bit), it's all part of a safe sex campaign. Certainly one I support, and hopefully quite effective. I'm trying and failing to imagine a North American team, especially down in the region where I live, taking on a similar task -- and I'm really having a hard time imagining NHL players suiting up for similar ads. I would imagine Modig is taking a bit of ribbing around the Elitserien for his role.
(The second, less-goofy ad is here. I wonder if the condom company paid a product placement fee...)
Labels: advertisements, strangeness, sweden
