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The story behind the Zetterberg commercial

You may have seen this already, as it's been circulating around the 'net for a few days. It's a pretty clever little commercial starring what appears to be Henrik Zetterberg in full uniform:

Apparently it's the first in the series, and Henrik is actually a look-a-like actor from New York. If you're interested, flip over the jump to hear from the creators about the movie and what they have planned down the line:

Star-divide

Hey James,

OK. So here's the deal. A few months ago my friend Greg, a Detroit native, and I were sitting around, hanging out when he remarked how much I really look like Henrik Zetterberg. I had heard this a few times before but neither of us had really put much thought into it. About a week or so later, I had an idea while riding the subway. You see, Greg and I both live in NYC, I'm an actor and he's a filmmaker. It dawned on me that we should shoot something with me as Zetterberg...

The more the two of us talked, the more we figured out that we both had problems with the current NHL marketing campaign, and who better to come up with some new commercials than us. So, we set off scripting a series of commercials, storyboarding them with artist friends of ours, putting together presentation packets, and then shooting and editing several commercials. We created an entire advertising campaign for NHL. Once we had all of our stuff put together we realized that we needed to get our stuff to them...

Well, the first part turned out to be the easy part. Using just about every connection we had, we ended up getting the material to a few people who said they would "pass it along" at the NHL. Well, as many of us know, rarely does this make for a sure bet.

After a few weeks, we again came to another realization. If you want to get someone's attention, it's a lot easier if you have a thousand, or ten thousand, or a hundred thousand people with you.

SO HERE WE ARE, we want to bring it to the people. LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE! If the people think it works, then a message will get sent to the NHL that IT DOES WORK!

This is our first video made specifically for the playoff run to the Stanley Cup.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSppMWmHT8U

The concept involves a hapless Zetterberg doppelganger going about his daily life in hockey gear. YES, FULL UNIFORM! He eats, sleeps, and bathes like this. The follow up commercials we are planning to release soon include going on a job interview, fighting pollution, taking a guitar lesson and many more to come. With a little help, we will be able to show the NHL the full scope of our campaign which goes far beyond just Zetterberg and the Red Wings.  

This is us, the little guy, average Joe, David. Not trying to take down Goliath, but just trying to let him know that we are here. That sometimes to find out what the people want, you should just go to the people. We know what we like.

Thank you.

Go Zetterberg! Go Redwings! Go HOCKEY!

Jakob Hawkins & Greg DeLiso

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hahaha

this is great. He really does look like Zetterberg too and i like it better than any of the overplayed ones the NHL has out now. Yes I know, there are only 52932300 seconds left in the playoffs.

by MrNorrisTrophy on May 22, 2009 6:00 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

But that number goes up if there are overtimes, so that is so silly – and it annoys me more each time I see it.

I wonder how much the NHL could save if they went with the best of the fan-generated ads instead of hiring an expensive agency to come up with a campaign? Sure a lot of the stuff would be lousy, but they would only take the best spots so most of it would be tossed on the trash pile anyway.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on May 22, 2009 9:19 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

yeah

and it doesn’t really account for either a sweep or game 7.

They probably just do a lot of it in-house since its all repeats of videos from last year’s playoffs.

by MrNorrisTrophy on May 22, 2009 9:55 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I did the math on the 378,000 minutes in the playoffs commercials. That figure is for 15 series going 7 games each without OT. Of course, this never happens. They end up being off by like a solid 75-100K.

http://sacrificethebody.blogspot.com/
Sacrifice the Body - Examining the NHL through statistical analysis, reasoned thought, and blind conjecture.

by IAmJoe on May 22, 2009 11:58 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Great ending. Too bad they are Red Wing fans.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on May 22, 2009 8:19 AM CDT reply actions   2 recs

+1

The 2008-2009 Colorado Avalanche: Slumpbusters

by Jibblescribbits on May 22, 2009 12:12 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Nice commercial. Unfortunately, even if the NHL really did like it, they’re a bit late to the party. I don’t think the NHL ad people could just slot a new spot right now, their only hope would be next season if they want this stuff on TV.

by Costa24 on May 22, 2009 10:38 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

There’s no reason Versus couldn’t fit a new spot in at the last moment, especially if it was simply displacing one of their existing promos.

BTW, the “XXXX Seconds” promos are produced by Versus’ in-house promo department.

The spots that drive me crazy are the promos for “Fanarchy.” I can feel myself becoming retarded each time one of them airs.

by alexcutter on May 22, 2009 11:29 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

ah yeah

good point, Versus and the NHL front office are equally horrible so you could see my mistake mixing them up right?

by MrNorrisTrophy on May 22, 2009 2:15 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

The fanarchy commercials make me sick to my stomach. I can’t wait to not watch that show.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on May 23, 2009 1:07 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I don’t even know what you guys are talking about … thankfully Versus exists only in internet conversations for Canadian hockey fans.

Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com

by James Mirtle on May 23, 2009 1:33 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Here’s the commercial that airs every 15 seconds on Versus

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on May 23, 2009 3:13 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Oh boy.

Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com

by James Mirtle on May 23, 2009 12:59 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I suspect that most companies would do better if they took the money they pay to their ad firm, and used it as a prize to give to the best 3-4 concepts they get in a contest. I try not to denigrate other professions too much, but I’ve had to take marketing classes to get a certificate in accounting, and I have been thoroughly underwhelmed. I’m no good at it, because I flat out hate it (if I wanted to communicate with people, why would I have picked accounting?), but it also just isn’t that hard. The skills needed to come up with a good ad campaign are possessed by a far wider population than the employees of ad firms.

The NHL is better situated than most organizations running ad campaigns. I have a hard time seeing too many people putting together an ad for razor blades just for fun, like these guys did. Put a monetary prize on it, though, and I bet you’d get a lot of submissions, enough of them that one of them is likely going to be better than what your expensive Madison Avenue firm is charging.

by J. Michael Neal on May 22, 2009 4:50 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

A better way to source ads

I’ve been following this discussion with a ton of interest because I’ve started a company that does pretty much exactly what’s being discussed — connecting creative people who make ads with companies who want to buy them.

I loved seeing the Red Wings Zetterberg ad above because it’s exactly what we champion — fan-made ads that are strong, authentic and passionate.

The company is called AdHack (add .com for the website) and I’m going to now get in touch with the guys who made this ad to see if we can help them get a deal.

And James: keep up the great reporting, especially the data analysis.

by sherrett on May 22, 2009 7:00 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

That is, for lack of a better word, rad.

Ain't nothing but puck drops and poke checks, babydoll.
Now Princess Game Thread.

by wrap around curl on May 22, 2009 7:24 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

I like the idea of taking a guitar lesson with hockey gloves on.

by Gerald on May 23, 2009 11:16 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs


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