NHL Business story for the New York Post

NHL TAKES SHOT WITH NEW ADS

By DENIS GORMAN

February 11, 2007 -- Nearly two years after a season-long work stoppage nearly killed the sport and 12 months after a spike in interest greeted hockey's return, the National Hockey League is battling to turn around tepid interest at the turnstile and unimpressive TV ratings.



Two week's after the NHL drew an anemic 0.7 rating for its All-Star game, the country's No. 4 sports league is amping up a marketing campaign that attempts not to explain the game or showcase the talents of its players, but rather to show its highest-wattage stars as normal people - who happen to be good, very good, at playing hockey.



The league kicks its campaign up a notch this week with two new spots - just as NBC's coverage settles into the playoff push.



The spots show the players in some hotel high jinks - calling in a bogus room service order for a rival player in a room down the hall, engaging in hallway luggage cart races, pillow fights and dropping water balloons out a window.



Earlier campaigns - some of which didn't even feature players - failed to attract the casual fan to the tube or the rink. The Devils, among the NHL's elite teams, draw just 14,230 fans a game, off 3 percent from last season. The Islanders, in contention for a playoff berth, skate in front of an average 12,609 fans, down 4 percent from a year ago.



The Rangers are the exception, selling out their games as they do most years.



Credit Brendan Shanahan of the Rangers for coming up with the idea for showing the players as real people - and the NHL for running with it.



"This year is all about the players," Bernadette Mansur, an NHL executive, told The Post, adding that people, specifically young urban professionals, weigh heavily in the NHL's marketing plans.



To be sure, the NHL's channel on YouTube has been a hit. But for Mansur and the rest of the NHL, selling more tickets and getting higher ratings have so far proven elusive.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02112007/business/nhl_takes_shot_with_new_ads_business_denis_gorman.htm