NHL To Test Virtual Ads During Stanley Cup Playoffs
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NHL To Test Virtual Advertising For First
Time During Stanley Cup Playoff Broadcasts |
The NHL in an effort to "build corporate support" around its TV broadcasts will "test virtual advertising for the first time during the Stanley Cup playoff broadcasts on its national TV partners," according to Mickle & Ourand in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The league also will for the first time "put postseason logos on the ice during the playoffs." NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and team owners still have to approve the virtual ad plan that is "patterned after the same type of advertising behind home plate during televised" MLB games. The NHL's version will "superimpose ads on the glass above dasherboards that protect spectators." The ads will not be visible in the arena, nor will they "affect camera angles or live TV shots." Mickle & Ourand note neither the league nor the nets have "pitched the new inventory to ad buyers yet, but they plan to test the concept during this year's postseason, which begins next week." If "everything goes well," NBC, Versus and RSNs will use the ads for their telecasts beginning next season. Former Fox Sports Exec VP/Sports Strategy & Marketing Jimmy Burnette, who helped develop virtual advertising for MLB, also "helped craft the NHL plan." Burnette was hired by the NHL as a consultant "just weeks" after retiring from Fox in November. In-ice logos will read "Stanley Cup Playoffs 2008" inside the blue lines at every rink beneath the ice. The idea for the in-ice logos "mimics the NFL's decision to put its playoff logo on the field during playoff games." NHL Senior Exec VP/Business & Media John Collins: "The model is the NFL. One of the ways we begin to build more equity around (the playoffs) with our fans and our partners is to begin to brand it. The field, the ice, the court has the ultimate credibility. Our ability to put Stanley Cup playoff logos on either end of the ice to signify this special event is really important." Mickle & Ourand note neither of the logos will replace in-ice inventory that clubs currently offer (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/31 issue).
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