• by Karl Greenberg , December 22, 2015

Major-league pro sports teams love local-market ad campaigns. But they tend to be, well, kind of predictable: hero shots of players, driving “Eye of the Tiger”-type music, impassioned voiceover to love us or leave town. 

The NHL’s Boston Bruins’ ad agency, Beantown-based Arnold Worldwide, has for some years been creating the obverse to the obvious, with an ongoing campaign, “The Bear & the Gang,” featuring a friendly, albeit deranged bear — a take on the Bruins' actual mascot — and Bruins’ players. 

The latest is a series of cartoons that have a retro single-cell art look reminiscent of such Saturday morning fare as “The Jetsons” or “Space Ghost.” The cartoons, drawn by J.J. Sedelmaier, who did SNL's “TV Funhouse” animations, among other things, comprise animated shorts. They feature cartoon versions of Bruins players — Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Rene Rancourt, among others — and their actual voices, doing cartoon-like absurdity with the bear.

Comprising three 60-second and two 20-second videos running online and on TV, the bear and players end up in typical cartoon situations, such as accidentally firing themselves into space, and making really bad homemade robots. At the end of each the ‘Bruins Cop’ offers such life advice as “always wash your hands” at the end of each spot.

Of the bear, Travis Robertson, creative director at Arnold, says “It's basically a 7-foot tall sociopathic bear. Sure, [the Bruins] have a mascot, but it’s not this bear.” 

Greg Almeida, co-CD, has been doing ads for the Bruins for seven years with the bear character, but this is the first time using animation. “In 2009, we created the Bruins bear with a series of humorous ads, ‘Bruins Hockey Rules,’ where the Bear would police Bruins fans for anyone who broke a rule, like dating a fan of the opposing team, or tucking-in a hockey jersey. That led to the Bruins fans embracing the bear as unofficial mascot.” 

He tells Marketing Daily that the Bruins ran with the idea, and the campaign evolved -- including one year in which the agency created a faux-80’s sitcom in which the bear and Bruins players acted out sketches in the style of, say, “Charles in Charge.” Says Almeida: “We went to the Bruins’ supply closet and built a set there, and did digital shorts that ran on Bruins social social channels. What we are trying to do is advertise the Bruins in way that sports teams wouldn't normally advertise; it's the anti-sports ad.”

Adds Robertson, “I’m always thinking, ‘what would the guy at the bar in Southie, a diehard Bruins fan, want to share with his friend on his cell phone.’ Thats how we got to the ’80s sitcom, which became something of a cult favorite.” 

The animation solved a logistical problem around using pro athletes, he says. “We have limited access to the team, obviously, so we thought the next step is to go to animation. Because, creatively it allows you to do things you can't do with live action — we have falcons, rocket ships and helicopters — and you get the athletes for like ten minutes; so this requires minimal commitment from them.” 

There is also merchandise in-stadium and at BearShorts.com using the comic characters, including lunchboxes featuring scenes from the cartoons. And, of course, thermoses and coloring books, t-shirts, and posters. The Bruins also released a stuffed bear. “There is definitely a whole merchandising line behind it. These animations are crazy and fun. much of the same way as in same vein of Scooby Doo. It's a throwback.”