“Welcome to Rangerstown,” the NHL Rangers’ new marketing campaign, strives to connect the NHL club to die-hard and young fans in a lighthearted way. “We wanted to take a fresh look by having fans as part of the action and by showing off the personalities of our players,” said MSG Sports President Dave Howard. “Sales are strong, so this is much more of a brand campaign with a focus on growing the fan base.” The campaign is a collaboration between the Rangers’ marketing department and N.Y.-based agency NSG/SWAT. In the script of one television spot planned for production, Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist takes up residence in a family’s home. The well-dressed Lundqvist gives fashion tips to the husband and saves the wife from a kitchen mess by “saving” a falling coffee pot. Says the wife, “He’s the most special man in our lives.” The spots will run regularly on MSG Network and on cable networks in the N.Y. market. Digital buys include ESPN.com, NBCSports.com, NYPost.com and WSJ.com. Print ads will be featured in Newsday, which is owned by Rangers parent company Cablevision. The campaign will be weaved into the Rangers’ game presentation, with informal and fun profiles of the team’s players shown on the arena scoreboard.
