NEW YORK – The National Hockey League (NHL) won a hat trick of awards at last night’s annual PromaxBDA Sports Media Marketing Awards for its History Will Be Made™ Campaign and Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® Social Media Campaign.
History Will Be Made™, the 2011 Stanley Cup® Playoffs campaign took home gold in both the Best TV/Video Campaign and Best Overall Integrated Marketing Campaign categories. The 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic Social Media Campaign also received gold for Best Social Media Campaign.
The Sports Media Marketing Awards presented awards in more than 25 categories honoring the most outstanding sports marketing and promotion work from cable and broadcast to video games, leagues and teams. The jury panel included Turner Broadcasting Systems President of Sales David Levy, Sports Illustrated Creative Director Christopher Herick, Madison Square Garden Sports President Scott O’Neil, LA Kings President Luc Robitaille, CMO of Fox Sports Media Group Eric Markgraf, NFL CMO Mark Waller, TD Garden & Boston Bruins SVP of Sales & Marketing Amy Latimer, Chairman & CEO Wasserman Media Casey Wasserman, and other industry influencers.
The National Hockey League beat out other finalists including NFL and Nascar in the respective categories. In accepting the awards, Brian Jennings, NHL Executive Vice President of Marketing said, “We are so proud to be honored and recognized by such a distinguished panel of judges. We continue to reach new heights with creativity for our fans that brings this exciting game to life and engages our fans through a number of different touchpoints. We’d also like to recognize our Clubs and partners who continue to inspire the work we do as it reminds us what an awesome responsibility it is to serve our game.”
During the 2011 Stanley Cup® Playoffs, the History Will Be Made campaign celebrated some of the greatest moments in Playoffs history – while motivating fans to tune-in as new history-making moments are made this year. The integrated campaign was executed across all touchpoints of both the NHL and its US broadcasters, NBC and Versus, including local team-specific creative, a new spot each day featuring the best moment from the previous night, POS materials in retailers across the US and Canada, and a dynamic digital platform (History vs History) where fans could vote on 64 of the greatest moments in Stanley Cup Playoffs history in a head-to-head bracket until only one moment was declared the greatest (Bobby Orr’s 1970 Stanley Cup-winning goal). A few creative examples include Mess , 49 Years, and Easter Epic.
The 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® Social Media Campaign was a unique, never-done-before activation between a League and a broadcast partner, which was created to bolster awareness of the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, increase viewership and sustain tune-in throughout the game. In the weeks leading up to the game, fans were encouraged to “Watch and Win” by registering at NHL’s Facebook page. The application requested users to submit a profile photo that would be selected during the live NBC broadcast. By watching for their photo and showing they paid attention to the game, entrants had the chance of winning one of three major prizes including a 2011 Honda CR-Z, a VIP trip for four to Universal Studios, and a VIP trip for four to the 2011 NHL® All-Star Game. Ratings of the NBC broadcast increased by 22% vs 2010; over 11K submissions were recorded, driving a total of 42k new Facebook fans. Facebook drove 4.6 million earned media impressions, making the NHL Winter Classic a top trending topic on Twitter on Jan. 1st.
Additional League partner recognitions included Titanium award winners VERSUS (Best Use Of An Athlete – History Will Be Made ‘Wish’) and HBO (Best Directing – 24/7 Trailer Penguins-Capitals Road To The Winter Classic). In addition, the Chicago Blackhawks took home gold for Best Long-Form Promo – Joey the Junior Reporter and Best Stunt, Environmental or Experiential Installation – Stanley Cup Statues. The Philadelphia Flyers won for Best in-game experience and EA Sports for Best Use of Original Music Or Sound Design – NHL 11: The Moment.
The awards were presented during a ceremony at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City. The ceremony was hosted by actor, writer and comedian Norm Macdonald.
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