• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 4, 2010

 

The National Hockey League, well aware that last season's excitement may be a tough act to follow, is launching a new advertising campaign just in time for the season's first face-off. It hopes the new effort will build on the enthusiasm and adrenaline of last year's highly rated Stanley Cup playoffs.

Themed "Five Questions Will Become Answers," the spots are a big departure for the league, featuring five NHL stars working out off-season. Instead of fast-paced arena shots, they're off the ice, sweating through tough athletic drills most fans associate with other sports.

Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews pushes through squats, as talk-radio analysts wonder whether the Blackhawks can "repeat as champs," when "they'll have a target on their backs every night." Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller bounces tennis balls off a wall; Montreal Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri flips a huge tire on an outdoor court, while the commentators ask: "Did the Canadiens just get hot at the right time, or are they really that good?"

"We wanted to capture the athleticism of our players," Brian Jennings, NHL's EVP/marketing, tells Marketing Daily. "In basketball and football, you can see how strong athletes are, but in hockey, it's hidden under their uniforms. Hockey players are doing all the things other athletes do, as well -- but with skates on. People don't realize the intensity and endurance that requires, and we wanted fans to be able to see it up close."

In addition to the five national spots, he says the NHL also created 30 team-specific television spots featuring each club's players. Young & Rubicam is the agency.

The new effort, while appealing to avid, hard-core fans, is part of its larger plan for reaching out to broader and broader audiences. Last season, the NHL says, it had the most-watched hockey game in 30 years on U.S. and Canadian TV, the highest-rated NHL game in 36 years on U.S. broadcast TV, and the largest audience for an all-U.S. final in Canadian history on CBC.

In addition to breaking those records, Jennings says the NHL is devoting more attention to large-scale events. For its 2010 NHL Face-Off, a hockey and entertainment festival at Dundas Square in downtown Toronto this Thursday, for example, "we'll be closing streets, bringing in musical acts -- we're making sure to speak to fans in an inviting way, and recognize that the demographic of the fan base is changing. We're looking to include a wider audience all the time."