Hey friends!
There's a saying people use in advertising when a brand's tactics are incredibly heavy-handed and transparent. We say "your strategy is showing." And well, this commercial might as well be standing on an open vent with industrial fans blowing its skirt up in the air.
It's obvious what the account executives at DraftFCB were going for when they wrote the brief for this campaign. They're taking a total left turn from what "History" did and instead of rewarding hockey fans for their knowledge, they're trying to lure in a target that has no interest in hockey whatsoever. And they want to convince them to watch hockey by essentially telling them that they don't have to watch it.
"It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for them."
Let's break this down in more detail:
Apathetic, uninterested sounding announcer: "Because it's good to get together over something cold."
Can't really argue with that. I mean who doesn't like to go out with friends and drink an ice cold glass of OH WAIT I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. Isn't hockey that funny game those toothless Canadians play on ice? And ice is COLD. I get jokes.
Announcer: "Because it all started as a good excuse to go out on a Wednesday night."
Yeah, because you really need an excuse. I mean, if you tried something so audacious as to go for wings without the excuse of a sport you don't care about being on TV I would seriously question your motives. Wings and beer for no reason? WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE. Now get back in here and sit down. Wednesday is Criminal Minds night and you know it.
Announcer: "Because in hockey, there are two halftimes."
OH THANK GOODNESS. The less time I have to actually watch hockey the better. Excellent argument, commercial for hockey! And thanks for dumbing it down by not calling it intermission. Two halftimes in between three thirds of a hockey game I can understand, but you'd have lost me at anything over three syllables. Everyone knows that the two halftimes are when the ice maker trucks water the ground and the player guys sharpen the knives on their foot booties. DUH.
[addendum: at 15 seconds in, we see a shot of what appears to be Mason Raymond in a Sedin jersey next to a man in the fetal position, and they're sitting in front of a wall covered in newspaper cutouts of hockey articles. I'm gonna go out on a limb and hazard a guess that no adult male on the planet decorates his living room with cut up newspaper, except serial killers. We're through the looking glass here, people. MayRay's doppleganger and his pillow-hugging accomplice are going to try to murder the New York Rangers.]
Anyway, where was I... oh right.
Announcer: "Because when someone's playing every night, that means you can too."
Note that they went with the word "someone". Not "your team". Because we've already established that you don't give a flying [care] about hockey. You're just a weirdo with a drinking problem who needs to be told when you can and can't leave your creepy newspaper dungeon to go pretend to watch a sport, then drive home drunk in your Sharks jersey.
I think that's the final "get it" moment of the ad... anyone who believes that the Sharks won't choke has clearly never seen hockey before!
Announcer: "Because it's the Cup. The 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Starting April 11th." And then they show 3 different NBC logos. I can practically hear the client:
"show ALL THE LOGOS!"
In summary, you should probably watch the 2012 Stanley Cup Thingys on NBC.
Because drinking.
Because America.
Because BECAUSE.
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