NHL ad scores. No acting necessary.

Of all of the reasons my children make me feel blessed, one of the best is the fact that none of them play hockey. I like to watch the game, but I haven’t played since 5th grade, when Phil Humbert nailed me with a slapshot above my right eye in his frozen backyard (six stitches). So nobody in our family is much of a skater.

Hockey is smelly, injury-prone, and expensive, and if your child is on a travel team, you TRAVEL. For basketball or baseball, the farthest you go is maybe the next county. For hockey, you cross time zones.

For all of those reasons, Honda loves hockey. Hockey families need lots of equipment and log lots of miles so they need big roomy cars…like, say, Honda Passports and Pilots. So it’s a natural for them to sponsor the NHL. But it doesn’t mean they have to do such smart ads, like this.



I really like this spot. I may not be a hockey parent, but I’m a sports parent who can relate to the rituals involved in kids’ sports. The packing and unpacking, the early morning games and practices, the special moments watching them play. And the fact that our kids rely on us to make it all happen.

Honda takes this insight and connects it to their products: “As reliable as the people who drive them.” Smart. What’s even smarter is how they tie in their NHL sponsorship, without showing a single NHL player or highlight:

“Official vehicle of the NHL. And hockey parents everywhere.”

Knowing that hockey players are better at checking than acting, another wise move.

Opportunity Missed

Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a really good creative person is to get a ridiculously challenging assignment. It brings out the best in talented people.

Conversely, having too much fodder has the potential to set yourself up for failure. Great expectations can lead to disaster if the finished product isn’t spectacular.

I know this from years of creating ads for Michael Jordan and Gatorade, and directing creative teams to do the same. We did some great work but it was never easy. Having the single greatest sports asset on the planet at our disposal was awesome and amazing but also added a great deal of pressure to create greatness every time.

So I understand the challenge the folks at Y&R had when creating ads for the upcoming Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. The Blackhawks and the Red Wings playing a hockey game outdoor at Wrigley Field; how cool is that? Tremendously, opportunity-filled cool. The mind races with possibilities.

Unfortunately, Y&R’s minds didn’t race very far, choosing to produce what could be the most unremarkable, uninteresting ad of the year, considering the fodder they had.



Sometimes, the first thing you think of is the most obvious, but because it's pure and simple and great, you just say, obvious be damned, it’s great. In this case, they nailed simple, but definitely not great. They should have pushed much harder for something far more surprising.

For example, something like this…



Fresh, surprising, unexpected use of film and music. Not at all what you’d expect.

Sure, I’m biased. But “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to promote an emerging American sport? Cool and unusual. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to promote a hockey game at Wrigley? An uncontested layup. Too bad.

There are other ads in the campaign that I haven’t seen that may take a different tact. If you see them, please pass them on. Hopefully, they take better advantage of the opportunity.