Who Cares if This is the Year

Since Claude Giroux's demotion and Steve Downie's injury have been well covered we're taking today's slow news day to unviel a new feature here at Flyers Goal Scored By. Until the NHL gives us a contract we're going to occasionally unveil a new advertisement that is part of our bid for the 2009-10 NHL marketing contract. If they haven't awarded us the contract by the end of the season I'm going to print out all the ads, laminated them using an iron, and walk them five blocks up to the NHL marketing department. I imagine once I get by security and show these ads to whatever suits sit up there dicking around they'll hand me a suitcase full of cash and assign me a body guard to ensure that my brain goes undamaged. OK, so now here's the sale:

This morning I was stepped out of my subway car and onto the platform - a very mundane and normal part of my daily commute. Except today I was about to pass a trashcan on right side as a snooty looking woman was passing it on the left. As we passed she gingerly tossed a half full (empty?) iced coffee into the trash. My immediate reaction was to slam it back in her face and give her the Dikembe Motumbo finger wave. Obvisouly I didn't. But I was laughing to myself at how it would have looked and what she would have thought when I realized that it would be a great ad for the NBA. It was then that I realized I, like Mel Gibson in What a Man Wants, had a gift for marketing. I don't have time to go to school for that shit and then spend 5 years getting coffee and being a production assistant, so with help from some of the very skilled staff here we're going to launch our own grassroots campaign.

The NHL ads as they are today are okay. "Could it be this year" or whatever. That's great. But it's not fun or engaging. The second I see a Carolina Hurricane or an Edmonton Oiler wondering if this is the year I don't give a shit. I only care about one team. Most NHL fans are probably the same way. But one thing everyone loves is a good pants pooping laugh. They tried this a couple years ago - Forsberg in bed...I actually can't remember any others. The NHL network is trying for a comedic approach with that rambling coach. Except he's not funny.

In thinking of a tagline we considered what makes the NHL different than other leagues - ice, fighting, no ball... a million things. But the real thing is the players. They probably Kobe their fare share of chicks, they definitely cheat on their wives, they may even smoke a little dirt once in a while. But NHL players have always had a reputation as stand-up guys. No club shootings, no murders at their homes, no rap albums. I mean there is the occasional purse snatching, drunk driving, and Sean Avery, but for the most part these guys still serve as very good role models. Kids can look up to these guys because they don't know what happens in McFadden's bathrooms or what JR and Brash did to my friend Liz in the parking lot at Top Dog. So we landed on what you see below. We're not saying this won't change from time to time as the season becomes more sexually charged, but this is our "you have 30 minutes to revamp the NHL's ad campaign.Go" solution. Young & Rubicam, please feel free to get in touch.