I don’t think it would take a lot to convince people that the NHL is one of the most inviting of the four major sports leagues. The NFL and NBA are good to their fans too, excluding Ron Artest beating up a handful of Pistons fans. No matter how your order those three, coming in last is clearly MLB acting like Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (strike fear into your followers and tell them they’re lucky you let them watch).
(Image from Puck Daddy)
But, when it comes to new ways to market itself the NHL is clearly ahead of the pack. Let’s see here. First, they gave us ice girls (full of win), then they put their satellite TV package online (major win), players doing #realtalk on Twitter (Bissionette ftw), and there’s the whole, you know, embracing the blogosphere thing that no other league does quite so much or so happily (game. set. match).
So, this week the league has it’s newest marketing initiative coming out and it’s, er, superheroes? Not quite. They are guardians. Who are the Guardians, you ask? THEN YOU ALREADY KNOW. THEY’RE EVERYWHERE AND NO WHERE AT ONCE.
Haha. That doesn’t make sense…. /awkward silence
Well, the NHL’s newest marketing initiative doesn’t target us. It’s not for the 30-year old blogger in his parent’s basement.
It’s not for the grizzled and bearded blue collar Oilers fan. It’s aimed at kids and I, for one, am OK with that. The league’s newest marketing venture is to target the youngins and cultivate the next generation of NHL fans.
It’s a group of 30 superheroes designed to promote the league and it’s teams but not really. Called The Guardian Project, it’s about a boy who has all these superheroes dreamed up inside his head and then one day they come to life. They don’t all play hockey, but it’s implied. That’s how to describe it in two sentences. It’ll probably be slightly more complex than that.
Throughout January, fans can vote through Facebook on which teams’ superheroes they would like to see revealed first with the big, super-duper, epic reveal coming up at the end of the month.
Is a group of 30 superheroes going to get the job done of embedding the NHL in kids? Well, the straight answer is who the frack knows. Have you ever tried to understand what makes a 10-year old boy tick? I’m convinced that all marketing to pre-teens is either sugar-based or would give a normal person epilepsy (not to mention drive them insane). Trying to figure out what would be cool to a 10-year old is impossible and what they like changes about as often as the weather. But hey, more power to the NHL for trying.
Oh and — I feel like this is specifically to piss off Wyshynski and other All-Star Game critics — the NHL is having these heroes come to life at the All-Star Game this year. Imagining their rage is funny to me.
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