Versus Takes Serious Tone In Spots Promoting NHL Season

By Paul Sanford, Television Editor

To support coverage of the '07-08 NHL season, Taxi, N.Y., has created four new spots for Versus featuring Flyers C Daniel Briere, Senators G Ray Emery, Hurricanes C Eric Staal and Penguins RW Mark Recchi. The spots are serious in nature as they attempt to convey the intensity of playing in the NHL and the difficulty of getting to and maintaining that level of play. The black-and-white spots promote Versus’ Monday and Tuesday night NHL coverage. The campaign also includes print ads, radio spots, posters in bathrooms with tear-off schedules of NHL games on Versus and online banner ads. Briere and Staal appear in 30-second spots, while the two featuring Emery and Recchi are 20-seconds. The director for the TV spots, Henry Alex Rublin, was nominated for an Academy Award in ’05 for directing “Murderball,” a film about paraplegics who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs. The Briere and Staal spots debuted on September 15. The Emery spot will break tonight during Versus’ NHL coverage and Recchi will air the week of October 15, a week ahead of the net’s first Penguins game, October 23 against the Rangers. Visit SportsBusinessDaily.com to view the spots.