https://blogs.ubc.ca/jlively/2011/10/07/41/

This blog post is in response to Jamie Lively’s post regarding Nike’s relatively new advertisement featuring P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens. It is no secret that former NBA Senior Vice President, and current NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has attempted to appeal hockey in US markets. Whether he has been successful or not is a completely different debate, but there is no arguing the benefit of an advertisement like this for the game of hockey.

As Jamie stated in his post, advertisements featuring world-wide superstars from leagues like the NBA or NFL have been developed with huge production value for years, with the NHL lagging behind drastically in the “cool factor” amongst many American sports fans.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/12/10/canadiens_redwings_preview/

With the exception of the Northern United States, Canadians, and various European countries, hockey is an extremely misunderstood sport, and people simply just don’t care about it. An advertisement like this has positive implications for both hockey and Nike. Like Jamie said, viewers can associate traits that P.K. Subban displays like hard work, determination and fun with the Nike brand. This is extremely good for the positioning of the Nike as the premier apparel for not just football or basketball players, but all sports.

http://youtu.be/A4cf2gW7YVM