Bored Ad's

During a conversation, over on the Sens Underground forums, the topic of those pesky board ad's was brought up... by myself if I'm not mistaken.

Eventually the conversation led to how to replace the board ad's, without losing the revenue they bring, while providing entertainment for the fans. As opposed to increasing clutter near the ice surface; I'm looking at you LCD screen board ads.

The single question I asked myself over and over was; "Who are the board ad's aimed at in the first place?" -My marketing teacher would be very proud that I looked for the target market right off the bat.

And the answer to my question...

...the arena population
...the television audience.

It's not clear cut who the ad's are targeted at more, both these groups are exposed to the ad's pretty consistently, so I decided to ponder how to replace the board ad revenues as if they were targeted at both groups on the same levels.

Below are my suggestions for alternatives that allow the elimination the board ad's. Creating less clutter on the ice surface during the action, while increasing the fan experience and still retaining the revenue the ad's provided.


The Arena Population


It's all about the gathering of the individual. You sit down, grab a brew, push to the edge of your seat and cheer your head off when the ice sheet players meet your fancy. People near you feed off your emotion and the excitement, or tension, grows exponentially. You want to be able to push that puck a little to the right, so it squeezes between the goalies glove and the post, lighting the red lamps in overtime. Increasing the ambient crowd noise would provided that little something extra for the fans.

Repositioning of the board ad's in the arena and turning them into sound deflecting, amplification, dampening devices works to up the involvement, increasing the fan experience during the event at the same time. Imagine feeling your heart pounding to the crowds chants of "Alfie, Alfie, Alfie!"

It's either this or have microphones in the stands, like some sports arena's I've recently heard about, to increase the crowd volume.


The Television Audience

The only ad's I can stand, during a television broadcast of a hockey game, are those semi- transparent ones that usually float onto the screen for 10 to 25 seconds apiece during some stoppages in play.

Why? I think it's because they are the only ad's that break-up the action and only slightly remind me that I'm watching a television show. Watching a game on television is all about finding ways to get involved in the action, commercials that take you out of the arena and into a clothing store or hardware store are detrimental to that goal.

Increasing the number of semi-transparent ad's would provide this. Allowing for greater involvement of the audience by; showing panorama's of the arena busting with fans, close-ups of fans enjoying themselves, player intimates, interviews with coaches and players alike, more features like "McGuire's Monster" and the Team1200 going through the players hockey equipment. All of these things, which involve the audience more intimately with the progam, can only increase viewership and boost advertising dollars. Even if the ad's are see-through.

Heatley Rules

Nuff Said!

Where is the Gold?

I've been sitting here- near death from a nasty cold/flu/Ebola virus- and I have been thinking- (I can hear you groaning already.)

I still don't like the new uniforms. Why? I asked myself; the team looks faster, the players look less bulky, and its a great marketing tool.

I don't like that there is no GOLD incorporated into the uniforms. The socks are black, red and white. The Jersey (yes the hockey sweater is dead) is red, white and black.

No Gold. None except for the logo, which I do like. I wanna see this team have something all it's own - as of now were a shade away from being Carolina, and a loss of our basic black away from being Detroit.

I know it's basically a non-issue. People will argue that the way the stripes and lines are laid out will make the difference in the recognition of the other "Red-Drenched" teams. But hear me out... Give this team an identity all it's own, bring back the "GOLD" of the third jersey from years past and it will make a big difference. This team should be able "to make the playoffs and compete for the Stanley Cup then." ;)

Darth Gerber

As a quiet tribute to Gerber...



... the block is definitely hot people.

What happens next?

This is a really strange time to be a Sens fan. The team is paying 7 million dollars a season to retain both of it's #1 goaltenders. Gerber and Emery are both very good goaltenders, and might deserve getting that much money a season, but they are currently not living up to many fans expectations.

Letting the two goalies battle it out for the Numero Uno job seems to be having a negative effect on the whole team. Up until recently the Sens had dropped seven in a row, their longest losing streak in years, and the Gerber/Emery tandem was receiving the brunt of criticism from the media for the streak.

During the losses all I saw was a team with the potential to out play" everyone else in the league playing an unfocused game of hockey. I'll have to give Paddock the thumbs down for the recent choices he's made when dealing with the adversity on the club. But on the other hand I doubt that any other coach, besides someone like Bowman, could do the job any better. I'll have to get into this another time, rest assured there will be a blog soon enough detailing Ottawa's current "System" of hockey.

Back to the "controversy" in net.

I see this goalie tandem as fire and ice. I like Emery's blazing-fire but I also like Gerber's cold-calm, if only we could amalgamate them... we'd have some kinda crazy super-goalie... or not. What I've seen so far the past two season, from both these net-minders, is a little unsettling. Neither goalie seems to be willing to take that extra step and enter the league of the ELITE Goalies in the NHL. I'm not actually saying that either of them has the ability to sustain a " Patrick Roy-Like" career. What I mean is; I don't see either one doing something, on a regular basis, that separates the Backups from the True #1's in the League... six very important words...

"NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PLAY"

Both Darth Gerber and Sugar Ray have been unable to show me that they will do anything for a win. Sure we've seen flashes of brilliance from both, but flashes are not enough. That extra push to get across the crease or contorting ones body into seemingly impossible positions seems beyond these guys. To make a point -or to beat a "near-dead horse" in my opinion- We need to ask the "HATED" question about why the Sens were considered "Playoff Chokers" up until last year? We were beaten by goalies who were on the top of their game. Period. To make the Senators a dynasty, which is said to be near impossible in the New NHL, we need a heart between the pipes that is bigger than all of Hockey Country.

On a sorta irrelevant, but related topic. I wanna see how Gerber does with the black mask from this year and the black pads from last year. That would definitely make him a scary site to opposing players.

And while were on the subject of "intimidating the opposition... Emery seems to thrive on the physical aspect of hockey so why not let him loose once and a while -an example would be the Buffalo game pictured here- in which he willingly fought both Biron and Peters within a five minute span. I know! It was Awesome! But apparently everyone thought that the Sens should have been "protecting" their number one.

Wait a minute... I thought I was the flip flopper here.... Isn't Gerber the better goalie? Why should their be a huge backlash against the team if there was a superior goalie sitting on the bench? I think the shortness of the memory in many hockey fans makes them seem very flaky more often then not. The bottom line was; Gerber had been playing badly, Emery was the hot hand. The roles were reversed at the beginning of this year, it's that simple. Now that the team seems to be settling in with Sugar Ray in net -circa the last three games- I say let Emery off the leash, give him the ball so he can throw it at your little sister... or your grandma.


Whats the worst that might happen? He'd injure himself and all you Gerber-Babies would get your "Wish for the Swiss" to be number one. ;)

Cheers.