Last year’s NHL and NBC Sports Group’s “History Will Be Made campaign” will return for the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs but with an expanded presence. This year the campaign will be executed across TV, online, radio, print, in-arena, in-store POP, mobile and the social media platforms of the NHL, NBC and VERSUS as well as additional NBC Universal platforms including CNBC and MSNBC.
Creative was developed by the NHL, NBC Sports Group and VERSUS, in consultation with NHL’s global AOR, Young & Rubicam.
Last season’s campaign drove more than 302 million TV viewers for the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most watched in 36 years. The effort featured prominent Playoffs moments from NHL greats Bobby Orr and others and inspired fans to create and post their own versions of the TV spots to YouTube, generating more than 2,400 fan-created commercials and more than 8 million total views. For the second straight year, fans will be able to download the music composed for the History Will Be Made campaign from the NHL’s Facebook page for fan-generated spots.
The first pair of TV spots in this season’s campaign – “Wish” and “Mess” – will debut 3/13 during the NBC Sports broadcast of the Chicago Blackhawks at Washington Capitals game and more than 20 additional spots will launch by 4/13, the first day of the Playoffs. Starting 4/14 through the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final, a new spot will be produced each day, highlighting a key moment from the previous night’s games.
