That quasi-compelling slogan is what the NHL is using to market its postseason. While the NHL already has what its cadre of fans will readily claim is the most intense and grueling postseason of all the major sports, the hockey higher-ups have completely whiffed with their latest attempt to draw the masses—or at the very least those people who can tell Sidney Crosby from Bing Crosby—into their product.
What the NHL has to realize first is that these ads, which feature marquee talents such as Alexander Ovechkin and Martin Brodeur, are running exclusively on some second-rate cable output known as Versus. And since NHL playoff games are sandwiched on Versus between outdated rodeos and fly fishing shows that I’m confident do not draw any living viewers, those who happen to be watching the station when these ads come on are watching because they want to see hockey. They do not need Ovechkin enlightening them on the virtues of the Stanley Cup Playoffs—especially after his Capitals were eliminated by my roommate’s overly-beloved Philadelphia Flyers.
I could write all night on a rant about the NHL’s marketing shortcomings during the playoffs, but the underlying complaint is that they are incredibly ineffective when it comes to reaching the casual fan. Even the NBA, which rivals Bode Miller in the multitude of ways it can go and has gone downhill, understands that it needs to advertise on TV stations on which its games do not air; that’s why I see “Where Game 7 happens! Where competition happens! Where a Denver Nuggets victory once happened!” on stations such as Fox, USA, and even CNN. Where does the Cup change everything? You guessed it. On Versus. It’s time for Barry Melrose to put his mullet down and demand an increase in hockey promotion on ESPN—or at least move the NHL playoff analysis segment ahead of ESPN Deportes and a Pirates-Reds “battle.”
Until the NHL realizes that having the best product is only half the battle—effectively communicating their product quality to the American people is the other half—their advertising department can be sure that “That’s how the Cup hasn’t changed anything.”
