NHL Stanley Cup promo campaign sparks viral response

If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery then NHL marketing minds at ad agency Young and Rubicam scored a game-winner with their “History Will Be Made” promotional campaign for the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Since launching the new ads on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada a month ago, the internet has been flooded with clips by fans trying to spoof the inspirational spots.

Focusing on historic achievements in Stanley Cup Playoffs history, the campaign begs the question; “if it wasn’t for these iconic moments, what would we remember?” The six promos are set to a rousing piano score and unfold in slow motion, each depicting a victorious moment played backward. They close with a question sprawled across the screen to further magnify what you just witnessed.

They are guaranteed to infuse a sense of excitement and empowerment. Check out my favorite promo featuring Bobby Orr taking flight after scoring “the goal” to win the Stanley Cup for Boston way back in 1970.

Another one features Patrick Roy making a spectacular save in his rookie season with the Montreal Canadiens but I can’t show it to you because I am a Bruins fan and it would violate the “No posting spectacular Habs moments” rule that I officially established this morning.

Now for the parodies; there are a lot of them so I dug around and have posted some of the more interesting ones that I could find. This first one features Miroslav Satan’s game-winning goal and series finisher against Buffalo from this past Monday.

Fellow Bruins fans will appreciate this next clip highlighting the bumbling Brian Boucher of the Philadelphia Flyers who we’ll face in the second round of playoff action beginning this Saturday.

Here’s a spoof involving my favorite player Milan Lucic taking center stage.

And here’s one for Marc Savard.

Fans are a critical part of the game too. Here’s a parody featuring the Vancouver Green Men.

The “History Will Be Made” campaign is currently running across all of the NHL’s national and local broadcast partners, NHL Network, NHL.com, in-arena, and through digital and social media networking websites. No doubt, new parodies will continue to have a viral appeal on the web throughout the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is absolutely great for the NHL and its fans.