With a full slate of NHL Stanley Cup playoff games being televised nationally for a fourth straight year, NBC Sports is hoping that fans “Don’t miss a moment,” using that tagline as one part of its multifaceted postseason marketing plan.
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The “Don’t miss a moment” campaign features Alex Ovechkin in one TV spot.
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NBC Sports Group is set to televise as many as 105 playoff games this year, starting Wednesday night. Coverage will be presented across NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC and USA Network, the first time that channel has had NHL playoff coverage since 1985. NHL Network also will carry postseason coverage.
NBC will air up to eight prime-time playoff games, the
most the broadcast network has had since acquiring NHL rights in 2005.
The network launched its marketing efforts for the postseason last month. The two original spots featured Chicago’s Patrick Sharp and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.
NBC Sports Group Chief Marketing Officer John Miller said that the network wanted to get its initial campaign out a bit earlier than it had in previous years, with additional elements coming down the line. The next television spot, set to debut this week, will focus on the penalty box and the reaction of those inside when the opposing team scores.
There also are plans to further integrate social media conversations into the on-air broadcasts. Working with the NHL, NBC again this year will tout #StanleyCup and feature it on-air throughout each playoff game, encouraging fans to share their thoughts as well as themed pictures, which the broadcasts will then showcase. New this postseason is an initiative featuring the label #StanleyCupTough, celebrating teams’ long and arduous quest for the Cup. The NHL on NBC media platforms will ask fans to nominate their favorite playoff players and performances, with those comments also then being featured on-air.
These social media efforts come as the league plans its own digital push, with #MyPlayoffsMoment and its Playoffs Bracket Challenge (see related story).
“You see the buzz that forms around March Madness and the brackets, so as teams jockey for positioning now, we’re hoping the excitement is just as high,” Miller said.
Further highlighting the bracket element, NBC is collaborating with the NHL on what it’s calling Lord Stanley’s Cup Diddly-Umptious Bracket Bars: 32,000 chocolate bars that will be sent out to select fans and celebrities. Each bar will be wrapped in a unique bracket combination, and the person who receives the bracket identical to how the playoffs play out (along with four “silver-ticket” winners) will receive a chance to visit the Stanley Cup in person.
“We’ve done Stanley Cup cupcakes and puck cakes the last few years, so it seems like we always have a plan to have something to ingest related to the Stanley Cup,” Miller said.
But while fans enjoy chocolate from NBC, they’ll also see the network cross-promoting its premium fitness media brand Radius. NBC’s Jeremy Roenick will team with Radius trainer Natalie Uhling during the postseason for workouts. NBC will cover the process and use that footage in NHL Live programming and around coverage of select games.
