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The NHL does a horrible job marketing itself

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OP is right but it's nothing new. I agree completely about the laziness as well. It's one thing to be out of touch, but it's like they don't even bother. On top of that, the players they feature generally have no charisma which doesn't help. Even on ads featuring highlight packages (NHL network comes to mind), they'll just cram together a bunch of nothing plays and cellies about .25 seconds each as if it somehow showcases what makes the game exciting. Background music is generally terrible and rarely appeals to groups outside of a very specific and typical hockey demographic.

There are countless youtube videos and shorts for example that were probably put together in 10 minutes by some random fan, while having to navigate copyrights, that are vastly more enticing. NHL is piss poor at showcasing their sport compared to any other professional league I can think of.
 
sonic92 said:
I still say this is a cursed image

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This is shortly after MJ quit basketball and shortly after he cut off sports illustrated entirely to be fair.
 
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Under Bettman, the owners got cost control at the expense of billions in future revenue.

There was a clear opportunity to seize the spotlight going into and during web 2.0 - they could've been first to many things and won over a lot of people under 40. They squandered it because of a lack of vision.

I don't trust this ownership group to make a good decision, but who knows if they keep getting younger owners like the Utah Qualtrics guy, who I'm sure sees what we all see. Sports are peaking or past peak popularity and will be replaced by other synthetic things inside of 30 years. NBA is already a solved game losing viewers, MLB following suit. NFL is a terrible product. Even with shit reffing, the NHL had a chance but is crippled by its culture.
 
A sport that is niche in most American states. League is up to 32 teams, with more on the horizon. Most arenas have good attendance. Cap keeps rising. Seems like the league is doing just fine in how it markets itself.

Note: NHL TV commercials run during NHL games have very little to do with bringing in good numbers of new fans. There's a lot more to marketing, and the NHL is getting the job done given the circumstances.
 
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Ghost of Murph said:
A sport that is niche in most American states. League is up to 32 teams, with more on the horizon. Most arenas have good attendance. Cap keeps rising. Seems like the league is doing just fine in how it markets itself.

Note: NHL TV commercials run during NHL games have very little to do with bringing in good numbers of new fans. There's a lot more to marketing, and the NHL is getting the job done given the circumstances.
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Yup. Commercials like those can get fans of specific teams to watch more games instead of being homers. Convincing more people to give money is great, but convincing people to give more money works too.
 
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Honestly, I rather inside jokes then when they pretend like some 18 year old from Sesketchuan's slang is going to resonate with an American audience. What was that commercial with the great wall of pillows?

It screams out of touch old people that think nerds from the middle of Canada represents all young people.

Edit: The tipping commercial is corny but why are you making it seem like people won't understand what tipping is when you hear the announcers talk about it and making it obvious?
 
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So, let's look at this from a slightly different angle. Think of a sport that you don't currently watch or watch rarely. What sort of an ad would get you to watch that sport or watch it more often?
 
Where does this inferiority complex come from with NHL fans? It’s bizarre to fixate so much on how much more popular the other leagues are and how super duper cool and hip they are with the youth. Hockey is never going to be as popular as football, soccer, and basketball and that’s okay.
 
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kerrabria said:
Anybody remember this story? Or just generally remember what the dynamic was for the NBA/NHL in the 90s? I imagine that--at the time--NFL and MLB dominated American sports culture, and everything else fought for scraps. Except in the South where college football reigned supreme.
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It was just that summer. OJ did his thing and the Rangers/Canucks Cup was in the news as well as the NBA finals. My non-hockey friends were watching that Cup final and the World Cup that summer. They never watched hockey or soccer again. It was the end of the Lakers/Boston/Detroit rivalry and the NBA was waning a bit. I think that article was written as a reaction to that one moment in time.
 
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kerrabria said:
Anybody remember this story? Or just generally remember what the dynamic was for the NBA/NHL in the 90s? I imagine that--at the time--NFL and MLB dominated American sports culture, and everything else fought for scraps. Except in the South where college football reigned supreme.
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Hockey was hotter than it had even been because of video games and pop culture references.
The NBA had a few black eyes at the time and it was thought that the NBA was gonna sink and hockey was gonna rise like a phoenix....
It never happened
 
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D Wakaluk said:
Tip, tip, tip!

Are you kidding me, that's one of their best adds - most of the dudes come out natural and funny, Saros & Markstrom with the best delivery

I don't think any add campaign would draw in the normies. Imagine picking up a random regular season snoozefest as your first game.
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What exactly does this ad accomoplish?

Do you think that you are going to watch more hockey and spend more $$ on merch because of it?
Did it change your level of fandom one iota?
 
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Lt Dan said:
What exactly does this ad accomoplish?

Do you think that you are going to watch more hockey and spend more $$ on merch because of it?
Did it change your level of fandom one iota?
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How many ads in your lifetime had you saying, "you know what, I'm gonna go out and spend my money on _______ thanks to that ad"?

And yet, a bazillion dollars are spent every year on advertising.

I also don't quite understand the complaint of "no one recognizes the players, so stop showing their faces!"
 
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izlez said:
How many ads in your lifetime had you saying, "you know what, I'm gonna go out and spend my money on _______ thanks to that ad"?

And yet, a bazillion dollars are spent every year on advertising.

I also don't quite understand the complaint of "no one recognizes the players, so stop showing their faces!"
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The purpose of advertising is to grow a business. These ads didn't accomplish any of the core principles of advertising. Plenty of ads have made me go " oh hey, I didn't know (company did this", or "I want to try this new sandwich, or added credibility/brand awareness to where I need to get my transmission done and I notice a familiar name in the search results... "oh hey... there's a AA-(honk)MCO" and now they are fixing my transmission
The game isn't going to grow showing corny commercials with unrecognizable faces that do nothing to compel fans unfamiliar with the game to watch or to hook the casual fans to watch more
 
Yawn, it's this thread again. I thought the tipping commercial was funny. And first time I'm seeing the other one but it's pretty good too.

I actually like the NHL specifically because it's not full of obnoxious marketing gimmicks like the NFL and NBA. Probably will skip the Super Bowl this year because of all the attention on celebrities at the game.

The only potential issue is that now that baseball, football, and basketball players are nearing 60M in salary at the top end, NHL players might get actively pissed off that their upper limit is around 15M. But the fact that hockey salaries haven't ballooned like the other sports makes nhl players more likable to me.
 
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Lt Dan said:
The purpose of advertising is to grow a business. These ads didn't accomplish any of the core principles of advertising. Plenty of ads have made me go " oh hey, I didn't know (company did this", or "I want to try this new sandwich, or added credibility/brand awareness to where I need to get my transmission done and I notice a familiar name in the search results... "oh hey... there's a AA-(honk)MCO" and now they are fixing my transmission
The game isn't going to grow showing corny commercials with unrecognizable faces that do nothing to compel fans unfamiliar with the game to watch or to hook the casual fans to watch more
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Why are you so worried about the game growing? Who cares? Let the billionaire owners figure it out. None of our concern. It shouldn’t really matter to fans. I like watching the NHL, I don't care about it growing or making more money.
 
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KlefDown said:
NHL is a disservice to the sport of hockey, we all know.
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I came to the realization a little while ago that the NHL doesn't really care about expanding interest within their existing markets, they would much rather add new markets i.e., add new teams. So within that context, advertising/commercials probably don't make a huge difference to their bottom line.
 
Personally I don't think the NHL cares that much about growth.

They have a successful formula of expansion+selling out like the you know what of Babylon to advertisers. Hockey will continue to expand slowly but surely as populations continue to increase around the world and more and more money gets concentrated into the few companies that can afford absurd advertising budgets.

They don't care that much about trying anything off the beaten track or new, hence why they're shutting down content creators.
 
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