With March Madness officially over and football still a very long way off, sports fans are turning their attention to the start of the MLB season, and what the playoff pictures look like for the NBA and the NHL.
Unless you're ESPN, in which case, basketball is the only professional sport that starts playoffs in April. Apparently there isn't enough "national interest" for The World Wide Leader In Sports to cover hockey, even though some of the country's biggest hockey towns (St. Paul, New York, Chicago, Washington, and of course, Pittsburgh) are going dancin' with Lord Stanley. But that's another rant for another day.
That being said, no one loves playoffs more than advertisers. In-game advertising has become a norm for contests across leagues. It's now customary to see brands, logos, and slogans plastered on the jumbotrons or embedded into the fields. Sponsorship and branding is so prominent in sports that most arenas and stadiums are named for them. Playoffs usually means more nationally televised games, which means more eyeballs glued to the screen. If there's more people watching the game, there's more people who are going to be exposed to the advertisements.
Yeah, ads can be kind of annoying, but I have to say, I've seen some very clever in-game advertisements.
There is a way to do in-game advertisements right. Take the "Boston Brewin'" Dunkin Donuts ad for example, posted along the boards in the TD Garden in Boston during Bruins' games:
I seriously love this advertisement. What a treasure. It's glorious. It's got iced coffee, it's got puns, it's got a well placed reference from a local, beloved coffee giant to a traditional hockey organization...these are a few of my favorite things.
What works for in-game advertising? What does not?
I've always found in game advertising, such as the image above, to be distracting. Then again if it isn't distracting the players then who cares. However I do like this particular advertisement. Dunkin donuts always finds creative ways to sneak up on ya.
ReplyDeleteYou cant go ten feet in Boston without stumbling across a Dunkin Donuts, not that I'm complaining their coffee leaves Starbucks in the dust. As for the in-game advertisements particularly in hockey, since the game is generally moving pretty quickly I dont usually take notice of the advertisements on the boards, unless they are directly behind a face-off or other stoppage in play. I think this is what makes the Dunkin ad so clever its right in front of the home teams bench where the camera frequently goes during breaks in the action, smart move by Dunkin.
ReplyDeleteYou cant go ten feet in Boston without stumbling across a Dunkin Donuts, not that I'm complaining their coffee leaves Starbucks in the dust. As for the in-game advertisements particularly in hockey, since the game is generally moving pretty quickly I dont usually take notice of the advertisements on the boards, unless they are directly behind a face-off or other stoppage in play. I think this is what makes the Dunkin ad so clever its right in front of the home teams bench where the camera frequently goes during breaks in the action, smart move by Dunkin.
ReplyDelete