Rangers Guardian Revealed
Yesterday the NHL revealed the Rangers Guardian superhero aptly named 'The Ranger'...
"The Ranger is the vigilant protector of Manhattan. He never sleeps, and therefore is a regular in Manhattan's late night scene, although you're much more likely to find him in a neighborhood joint than at a trendy nightclub. His personality is as big as the city he protects, but like most New Yorkers there is humility to his bravado. There's a multi-cultural feel to him that's directly related to the many different nationalities that inhabit the world's most populated island."
This year the NHL has joined forces with SLG Entertainment leader Stan Lee to develop comic superheroes for all 30 NHL teams.
Development for each character came in discussions with each NHL club, so the creators could get a feel for how to incorporate the feel of the team and town into each individual superhero.
...i'm not a big comic book guy so I just don't get this initiative by the NHL at all. If someone can explain it to me I would appreciate it.
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30 heroes which represent the 30 NHL teams will be involved in Graphic Novels (comics), online gaming, movies, tv shows, action figures and more is a new project that the NHL and Stan Lee came up with to benefit both of their businesses.
By puting the teams logo on every character, the NHL logo on all products, using that cities and franchises persoanlities as that heroes own characteristics (inlcuding powers) they hope they can create a whole new advertisemnet scheme to attract kids and a differ group of people.
Brand recognition is the most important thing in all businesses. NHL stated that the avg kid in America knows only 2 teams. Getting kids into what they love they most, superheroes and video games, they hope that the avg kid will know in his future 2-3x more NHL teams.
This will also open up the eyes of all kids who wanna take another interest in something, this project can make them lean into hockey. Hockey will be a subliminal idea in the story lines, characters developments trying to persuade kids to watch the growing game. Their fantasy game will have kids interested in keeping up with how their favorite superhero is doing in real life season. Also comic book fans are sure to check this out. Also another way to bring families together. Worse comes to worse, kids dont get into hockey any different than they do now but their attraction to the heroes and Guardians will bring in $$$$ for the league.
I love the idea as i love comics, love sports and cool new ideas. This is Stan Lee, hes like the Gretzky of Comic Books if not more than that
No problem Kevin. To be honest, I'm very happy with the Guardian project. As much as I HATE casual fans who don't know what is going on within a game, the NHL marketing team took an outside-the-box concept to attract more attention to their product, exactly what they should do. Now is it childish, Yes, but you need to grow fans from a young age and considering the expenses it takes to PLAY hockey, attracting the young'ns through cartoons/comics seems viable to me. Just sayin', it's not meant for you and me, its meant for kiddies. I would love for the NHL to attract more fans, and hopefully die-hards.
@alwaysright Thats the whole point lol... to attract the young crowd. To reach out to kids and teens who never had anyone say HEY WANNA WATCH HOCKEY. With the internet these days, this can attract every kid who likes super heroes and action.
to be honest, i don't get it at all, but this is being marketed to 9-14 year olds. when i was that age, one of the things that got me into hockey was playing video games. so maybe this comic book thing will help get kids into hockey.
Wow that's the most strange and random advertising effort I've seen from the NHL. But the guardians facing off against evil during the All-Star game sounds kind of like a geeky version of Bud Bowl. And hey, I liked Bud Bowl.
Also, comic book movies are pretty big these days. Lots of kids (and even adults) dig them, and the action figure market has to be pretty sizeable. Can't fault the NHL if they want to ride the wave a bit.
Maybe I'll buy a Flyer and Ranger... hit the Flyer with a blowtorch and let the Ranger dance triumphantly on his corpse. Is that too juvenile? :(
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Having read the link below this project makes even less sense to me now. The NHL has always had their own real life super heros - Richard, Howe, Orr, Gretzky, Messier, Lemieux, Crosby, Ovechkin etc tomarket. I don't see the need or the relevance of some corny cartoon characters when you have character like Brandon Prust has to sell your game.
You have some valid points re: attracting new young fans to the game. I just hope that the attraction transfers into a love for the game such as I and the other passionate hockey fans that I know have. Maybe I have a slanted view coming from the Norhteast and being closely involved with the hockey community here. My son coaches hockey, 3 of my grandsons play hockey, many of their freinds are involved with the game from a young age, so I didn't see the value. Looking at it from and 'outside' perspective, Iguess the Guardians project makes sense from a business point of view.
@rusty25
You think its bad because your already a mature hockey fan. See it from a lil kid who didnt have someone to push them into hockey. See it froma kid today who has 1000 channels to choose from, and rather tahn choosing sports he picks the cartoons. To that kid, he has no clue any of the names u just mentioned.
The Guadians project will help that, it will do better. It wont get kids attracted to players, it will get kids attracted to teams and the game itself
Steps .
1) Guardians project with 30 super heroes will attract kids between the age of 5-17.
2) They will be able to play video games with these characters, they will watch movies and read online comics with these characters and grow to love them the same way we loved The DUcks animated show or the other crazy children shows.
3) They will constantly see ice hockey subliminally within the games, the comics and the characters. Every character they grow to love is another NHL team they learn. Every time they follow the guardians they will see the NHL logo. BRAND RECOGNITION. Important in all busiensses.
4) Growing up to see NHL advertisements of games on that night, of team logos, of league logo will have them leaning towards watching hockey more and more. At leats more than they did before.
5) Fantasy game will have them choose their own character they love, and follow his progress in real life and how his team does in the box score.
6) worse comes to worse, its a money maker and everyone has the internet these days and will be willing to play video games and read comics. Action figures 2
These things make no sense to me either Kevin. I guess it's just another attempt to interest non-hockey fans to the game, especially young ones. Of course in my family the kids are just born into it.
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not sure why the NHL would want this, but at least we get to see what prust does when he's not playing. no wonder he's such a tank ;)
