Building on the “Don’t Miss a Moment” Stanley Cup playoffs ad campaign it created last year, NBC Sports Group will be taking a more active approach this spring to show fans exactly what they might be missing.
The network this year plans to feature TV spots throughout the playoffs that ask fans, “Were You Watching?” In the ads, short clips will start with a title card noting a specific date and time from a game the night before, flashing then into the middle of a highlight — likely a game-winning goal or another crucial moment. Each ad will then cut to black, with text asking “Were You Watching?” then teasing a matchup ahead.
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Sidney Crosby hoists the Stanley Cup in 2009. Crosby and Patrick Kane will be part of NBC ads touting the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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Some of the early spots, including those airing before this year’s playoffs begin, will hark back to memorable moments in postseason history, such as Bobby Orr’s game-winning goal in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final.
The campaign, developed by NBC Creative, was scheduled to make its debut last week. The 2016 playoffs begin April 13.
There’s a targeted digital play for this year’s effort, as well. NBC plans to create ads for certain nonsports websites in hopes of capturing additional fans that way. The ads would run either right before a playoff game is about to start or once it has gone live.
For example, someone in Washington, D.C., either right before or during a Capitals game, might see an advertisement on a news site that says, “Breaking news: You’re missing the game right now.” It also would provide tune-in information for that game, with a click driving users to NBC Sports’ NHL platform, where they could stream the game online with proper authentication.
The slate of specific sites involved in the effort was not available, but the verticals NBC plans to target include auto, news, retail, food and drink, and travel. This part of the campaign will go live once the playoffs are into the second round, when regional sports networks lose their local broadcast rights and NBC holds exclusivity through its outlets.
NBC Sports’ social media team additionally plans to cut promos as big moments happen during each postseason game, sending out video clips socially akin to the ones that will run on television across Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms. Pandora will be used for outreach to potential viewers during the AM and PM rush hours, as well.
“The real growth opportunity is getting the casual fans a little bit earlier when their teams are in the postseason and to get avid fans to stick around.”
BILL BERGOFIN
Senior Vice President,
Marketing and Promotion
NBC Sports
“For us, the real growth opportunity is getting the casual fans a little bit earlier when their teams are in the postseason and to get avid fans to stick around,” said Bill Bergofin, senior vice president of marketing and promotion for NBC Sports. “We feel that there are all these moments on the human side and hockey side that viewers will really connect to.”
Bergofin said NBC had three strategies in mind in building this year’s campaign: relevant disruption using technology; using innovative efforts to reach people at exactly the right time; and having some fun, which he called being “intelligently humorous.”
NBC plans to run more traditional television spots as well, highlighting that “human side” of NHL players. One ad effort will highlight the journey to becoming a Stanley Cup champion, using archival footage of players like Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane when they were learning how to skate, playing youth hockey, being drafted and now today, with a “push, fall, rise, repeat” narration accompanying the images.
A second effort will showcase the pride felt in winning the Cup, using a montage of players and fans celebrating with the Cup around the world, an annual tradition for the winners.
Those ads will appear across the suite of NBCUniversal channels, including CNBC, MSNBC and Golf Channel.
