With the Conference Finals starting Thursday night, the NHL is premiering its newest commercial, titled “Feel”, and as the title says, you truly will get hit with ALL THE FEELS after watching it.
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is featured.
Video
The new ad focuses on the impact that hockey has on its fans through memorable on-ice moments, as well as the interactions between players and fans on and off the ice, from puck tosses to charity work.
The footage used includes Ovechkin gleefully raising the Stanley Cup for the first time, as well as footage of the Championship Victory Rally on the National Mall (oh hi there, RMNB flag cameo!).
The narration of the video is powerful.
We’ll never deny that hockey is a sport. One team gets to win. The other has to lose.
But look beyond the scoreboard and you begin to see that maybe there’s a little more to it.
One minute it refuses to let you blink. Then the next, all you can do is scream. And what happens in a half second, can stay with you for the rest of your life.
It’s a thing an eight-time All-Star and an eight-year-old kid have in common. Worn on sleeves and written on faces. Upheld repeatedly shift after shift.
Hockey is why a man spends his entire life chasing 35 pounds of silver and why millions come out to celebrate it.
It’s not always rational. But somehow, it binds together everybody on one side of the glass to all of us on the other. Making an impact far behind the ice, where what matters has nothing to do with stats and standings. And a handshake can be all you need to say.
So you wouldn’t be wrong to call hockey a sport. But while it begins as something you watch, what it becomes is something you feel.
“Feel” is the NHL’s latest inspiring postseason commercial that includes such hits like “Cup Raise,” “Boys,” “Handshake,” “Name,” “Spelling,” and the Emmy Award-winning “No Words.”
The TV spot will air on NBC, NBCSN, Sportsnet, CBC, TVA Sports and NHL Network, and run across digital and social media channels (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, NHL.com), and in-arena throughout the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The commercial was developed by creative team Cliff Skeete and Bruce Jacobson of Baby Bear’s Porridge Productions, in collaboration with editor Steve Bell of Cutters Studios and the NHL’s in-house marketing team.
Bravo, NHL.
