| Follow my YouTube video updates on Twitter. twitter.com Because It's The Cup - The 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Starting April 11th "History Will Be Made" became history after last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs. The two-year-old promotion that featured nostalgic moments of postseason glory was one of the most successful advertising campaigns in recent NHL history — especially from a digital perspective, thanks to hundreds of viral video tributes from fans. But it didn't reach far enough, when the goal is to expand hockey's playoff audience. "It was nothing short of spectacular. But if you weren't kind of 'in the know', then it wasn't the most welcoming entry point for someone at that time of year," said Brian Jennings, executive VP of marketing for the NHL. "History was great, but the word 'history' was limiting," he said. "The word 'because' gave us more room to move." Earlier this season, the NHL welcomed "self-defined sports fans" that didn't have negative impressions of hockey to focus groups in Los Angeles, Toronto and New York. The goal was to gauge their awareness of the League and the playoffs, and to determine what the right selling points were for a "casual" fan. Problem No. 1: "People had trouble listing a couple of guys on the Kings and the Rangers" when asked, according to Jennings. Which makes player-centric ads a tough sell. Problem No. 2: After all these years on NBC and VERSUS-turned-NBC Sports Network, these fans still weren't sure where to find the ... |
