The NBC Sports’ commercial promoting the official broadcasters playoffs coverage uses a familiar sports event trope – childhood dreams come true – and a ‘push, fall, rise and repeat’ cyclic mantra beginning with toddlers and ending with champions.
The ad’s narrative is built around the idea that today’s hockey superstars were once normal neighbourhood kids skating on the pond – just like we were.
The use of grainy, shaky home video to support the official broadcast footage adds to this sense of ‘everyday’ and ‘like us’ and connects the fans to the stars.
The narrative also throws in a few classic sports spot themes too: from ‘overcoming the odds’, to ‘coping with the pain’ on the ‘road to sporting glory’.
The TV ad promoted the official coverage of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs across not only NBC, but also NBCSN, CNBC, USA and NBC Sports Live Extra.
Comment
Amidst the avalanche of 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs commercials, we’d argue that this was the one ad that truly stood out.
The fast edit, action-shot, dramatic voice-over approach isn’t exactly new.
But when done well, it still works.
This spot is enough to give the excitement chills hockey fans everywhere – even those whose teams haven’t made the playoffs.
But will it turn non-hockey fans into NHL devotees?
Probably not.
We are also fans of the initial 2016 playoffs commercial, launched in April, by the eventual Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins (click to view).
Links:
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