Fronted by athlete ambassadors David Pastrňák (of the Boston Bruins) and TJ Oshie (of the Washington Capitals), NHL partner Dunkin’s latest activation early in the 2021 season
The campaign, created by BBDO NY and produced by Hornet, is led by a hero ‘Empty Net’ spot in which the two hockey stars are recreated as bubble hockey arcade figurines.
The ad, which debuted in the second week of February during an NBC NHL game broadcast and promotes Dunkin’s Cold Brew coffee, takes the viewer out onto the ice of a classic, old school bubble hockey arcade game.
Pastrňák and Oshie highlight the product and some of the comic predicaments and glitches familiar to those who played the nostalgic game in their youth.
The spot ran on TV and was amplified across the brand’s digital and social platforms and it was also featured by the players who both tweeted a tease of the ad in the days before the campaign officially launched.
By far the best game happening today is me playing @tjoshie77 in the bubble. https://t.co/70bwRc9CKV
— davidpastrnak (@pastrnak96) February 6, 2021
The design teams developed more than 20 different, hand-painted heads for Pastrňák and Oshie to bring out their individual characteristics and facial expressions and, according to the agency, each frame took around 6-to-8 hours to film.
The ‘Bubble Hockey’ campaign was created for Dunkin’s marketing team of Senior Brand Manager Corie McNeil and Associate Manager Briana Appel by BBDO NY.
The agency team included Chief Creative Officer (Worldwide) David Lubars, Executive Creative Directors Doug Fallon and Steven Fogel, Creative Directors Talon Gustafson and Brian Pinkley, EVP Group Executive Producer Diane Hill, Senior Producer Mike Woodall, Senior Music Producer Julia Millison, Music Production Intern Katie Theobalds, EVP Senior Director Jim Santora, VP Account Director Carrie White, Account Executive Griffin Heller, Assistant Account Executive Sydney Doerge and VP Group Planning Director Marc Allen.
The production company was Hornet with Director Peter Sluszka, Managing Director Hana Shimizu, Head Of Production Karen Lawler, Head Of Creative Development Kristin Labriola, Production Supervisor Dez Stavracos, Producer: Trever Stewart, Associate Producer Riley Spencer, Senior Editor Anita Chao, Assistant Editor Minseok Kim and Production Coordinator Lotty Vigue.
Colour was handled by Honest Labor Color, Audio Post by Sound Lounge and the manufacturing partner was Home Arcade Games.
Comment:
Gaming is on trend and retro is on trend, so why not combine the two?
Especially when, due to the pandemic, the closest many fans can get to live physical hockey is playing this kind of game.
Indeed, the creative certainly looks like the agency and production company went to great lengths to faithfully recreate the retro game environment in which the contemporary stars come to life: it displays a creative alternative to actually getting the players physically together during quarantine.
This campaign adds to the brand’s increasingly impressive NHL activation back catalogue which includes 2020’s ‘Talkin’ Hockey’ and 2017’s ‘Brewed For This’.
Links:
Dunkin’
BBDO NY
NHL
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