Home ice has always been an important ingredient to a successful run in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. NBCSN, in its latest experiential puck sport promotion, will provide fans with a personal taste of that tenet.
The national cable network, the primary TV home to the National Hockey League, is sending a traveling ice pop truck to Minnesota carrying free artisanal “Home Ice Pops,” with each icy edible handmade to match the Minnesota Wild's team colors. Featuring fresh fruit, the key ingredient is the home ice itself, as the pops are created using purified water and ice sourced directly from the Wild’s arena.
Parked alongside Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis on May 6 from 11:30 to 1:30 (CT) and outside Xcel Energy Center before Game 3 of the Wild’s series with the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, the "NBCSN Home Ice Pop Truck Tour" will distribute approximately 4,000 pops in the Twin Cities over the course of Tuesday and on Friday, May 9.
Following its Twin Cities traipse, other ice pop trucks will wend their way to Los Angeles, Anaheim and Chicago, where they will spend two days in each city and bring the hometown ice-pop advantage to hockey fans as the Stanley Cup Playoffs unfold on NBCSN (see tour schedule below).
“With NBCSN as the exclusive home for the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, we are thrilled to bring this unique experience to passionate hockey fans,” said Jon Miller, president, programming, NBC Sports and NBCSN. “This has been a tremendous year for hockey with the inaugural Stadium Series, second season of Wednesday Night Rivalry, the Olympics, and now a thrilling post-season all posting record viewership. The continued success of the sport further demonstrates the value of NBCSN.”
The Home Ice Pops promotion marks NBC Sports Group’s most recent initiative with Civic Entertainment Group.
Before the puck dropped on the 2014 playoffs, the New York-headquartered agency helped the sports programmer deliver special “Puck Cakes" from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery to key media and hockey influencers as a means to explain the league’s new bracket playoff format. Last year, Crumbs sold "Stanley Cup Cupcakes," sporting appropriate team logos, in all of the playoff cities. In 2012, NBC and Civic let NHL fans in Times Square quaff from a giant Stanley Cup drinking fountain erected at the Crossroads of the World.
Through the opening round of the NHL playoffs, NBCSN netted significant Nielsen advances, averaging 614,000 viewers over 28 games, up 35% from the 455,000 watchers during the 26-game first round in 2013.
NBCSN Home Ice Pop Truck Tour
·Minnesota – 5/6, 5/9
·Los Angeles – 5/8, 5/10
·Anaheim – 5/8, 5/10
· Chicago – 5/9, 5/11
