The World Cup of Hockey should be a fun, entertaining event. You may not realize that if the only thing you’ve seen are those horrible commercials promoting the upcoming World Cup in September.
These commercials are awful. Maybe beyond awful as they’re cringy, embarrassing attempts to sell what should be one of the jewels on the NHL’s calendar. The tournament, which will be held on ESPN, has been promoted with a bizarre phony talk show which asks unfunny questions from some of the game’s best players.
The “jokes” are so bluntly delivered that they’re far from hitting the mark. Calling them jokes may be an insult to actual jokes. It’s like someone took the amazing “This is SportsCenter” idea, twisted it and the end result are these … things … we’re all forced to watch during the playoffs.
Here’s one with Patrice Bergeron:
Does that make you want to watch a hockey tournament?
How about this one with Jamie Benn?
Or this Brandon Saad ad?
They’re just weird.
And kind of boring.
Who are these supposed to appeal to?
The NHL has a history of rolling out some memorable and moving advertising campaigns. Remember the hugely successful “History Will Be Made” campaign? What about the incredible “Cup Raise” spot? The league hasn’t enjoyed the same level of success in recent years, but the bar has been traditionally pretty high. This effort, which is clearly in the same arena as other ESPN ads, falls flat.
Get fans excited for the tournament. Touch on the history. Touch on why it’s important and why it’s not just an exhibition. These types of spots could be fun in a strictly online format after the tournament has been promoted a bit more seriously, but as things stand the whole thing looks like a joke – and not a good one.
