Finland’s elite hockey league, SM Liiga, is finishing is season inside EA’s NHL 20 through the ‘Telia eSports Series’.
Barred from taking to the ice to entertain hockey crazy crowds, the 10 teams who have qualified for the Finnish national hockey league are continuing to compete for the championship – via esports.
Presented by telco Telia and developed by agency TBWA\Helsinki, the tournament features representatives of each squad facing off one on one via EA NHL 20.
The virtual tournament will stick to IRL rules, regulations and schedules and even the game commentators are the same and some Finnish pros, including former New jersey Devil Harri Pesonen, will be on the game controllers alongside celebrities, media stars and genuine fans.
The eTournament is being promoted through social media and via digital PR.
The first two virtual game telecasts drew about 20,000 viewers and the 25 April final will be aired live on Finland’s top rated broadcaster MTV3.
“During these hard times it is important to continue to provide some sense of normalcy,” explained Telia commercial manager Niklas Segercrantz. “Life goes on, even though many things are a bit different due to the pandemic. This was something we could do to help.”
“We think that in the future, this should become a usual thing,” Segercrantz added. “Now that it is becoming a mainstream form of entertainment, why not host esports versions of alongside traditional sports? This would be perfect for the NHL, NBA, NFL or MLB.”
As well as Telia, other brand partners of the ePlayoffs include phone giant One Plus, Finnish snack company Taffel and Norwegian frozen-pizza maker Grandiosa.
“The idea is more about offering entertainment and closure – even if it’s unofficial – for the hockey community,” said TBWA/Helsinki creative director Laura Paikkari.
“Enthusiastic hockey fans in Finland took it hard when the league was canceled,” added Paikkari. “Many people on social media were talking about the possibility of finishing the season online, and it was a natural place for the Telia Esports to step in.”
The initiative was developed dor Telia Finland Marketing Manager Aija Rainio, Commercial Manager (Esports) Niklas Segercrantz , Social Media Coordinator Heini Niemelä, plus Communications Manager Katriina Puro and Finnish Hockey League Marketing Manager Aija Saha, as well as MTV Marketing Manager Petra Ahvenharju.
by TBWA\Helsinki.
The agency team included Chief Creative Officer Jyrki Poutanen, Executive Account Director Anna Masalin, Creative Director Laura Paikkari, Senior Creative Jere Saulivaara, Planner Mikko Santonen, Project Manager Heidi Vilkman, Copywriter Lasse Perälampi, Art Director Juha Takalo, Junior Communication Specialist Saana Sundberg, Film Editor Henrik Storsjö and Campaign Results Statistician Ellen Lindbom.
The film production company was TBWA\Screen with Director Iiro Hokkanen, with production by Assembly Organizing with Executive Producer Juha Lahti, CEO Lassi Nummi, Social Media Manager Ville Nokkonen and Site Developer Juho Nieminen.
Comment:
Fins love hockey more than most and it’ll clearly take more than a global pandemic to bring a complete halt to Finland’s hockey playoffs.
An approach which aims to put some smiles on Finnish faces (the country is, according to research, the happiest nation on Earth), but while the results will be celebrated they won’t officially go into the record books.
The first time we saw this approach in ice hockey was during the 2012 NHL strike when a simulated league was run in EA NHL 13 and shown by ESPN and sports journalists even wrote about the virtual games as if they were real game reports in newspapers (see case study).
The Covid-19 crisis has seen a range of sports adopt this simulated season approach from Nascar and Formula 1 on their own social channels, to the NBA’s player-led NBA 2K challenge aired by ESPN2 and its HORSE initiative.
Links:
Telia Finland
Finnish Hockey League
TBWA\Helsinki
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