TORONTO – The W Network has found a novel way to target elusive TV audiences in an increasingly mobile world — get Hockey Wives stars on the phone.
The upcoming second season of the Canadian docu-series will see glamorous partners of NHL stars balancing busy family and career lives off-the-ice, and needing high end LG Electronics smartphones and home appliances to do so. LG's good fortune with that Hockey Wives storyline is the Canadian star system is dominated by top NHL players and team storylines to exploit, so the electronics giant will work its products into the W series.
"They (LG) are interested in the aspirational elements of the women's lives. Their tagline is 'Life's Good,' and that extends to life being especially good for hockey wives," Julie Bristow, president and CEO of indie producer Bristow Global Media, and creator of Hockey Wives, said of the brand partnership with the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer.
So expect Toronto singer Keshia Chanté, girlfriend of Philadeliphia Flyers goalie Ray Emery, to take selfies possibly with an LG G4 smartphone, or picture Anger Management star and new mother Noureen DeWulf, wife of Canucks goalie Ryan Miller, tossing clothing into a front-load LG washing machine, or (pictured) Martine Forget, Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier’s wife, in an LG-stocked kitchen.
"One of our hockey wives is going through a kitchen renovation. So the idea is there will be the highest-end LG products in that kitchen because she'll have to buy something," Bristow added, teasing the second season.
Of course, the CE maker's brand integration promises to be subtle, driven by the creative needs of a docu-series about real women balancing family, careers and the prospect of their partners, for all their NHL success, suddenly being traded or suffering a career-ending injury.
Bristow insists Hockey Wives would suffer if LG's products were clumsily over-exposed or too commercial when integrated into the W series. That said, Hockey Wives can avoid selling out as LG sells home appliances by continuing to unfold drama in the kitchens and laundry rooms of young NHL hockey families.
"They really understand that the success of the show is as a genuine documentary series, about the ups and downs of being in a power family, and how you juggle your lives," Bristow said. And with NHL players in Hockey Wives already driving the sale of team jerseys and other branded merchandise by fans, LG is betting savvy hockey wives aligned with its products and lifestyles will also ever so subtly sway the decision-making of Canadian consumers.
"Although I can't really quantify, and I don't know anybody has, I do believe the reach of a media property and the influence of something like a brand like Hockey Wives can be amplified by the association with a major or a national brand like LG," Bristow explained.
"The big opportunity for brand partnerships is to amplify the audience in ways that we may not completely understand.” – Julie Bristow, Bristow Global Media
Here's how: the Hockey Wives' first season included the birth of kids, and more babies will be welcomed during the second cycle. "All the ordinary goings-on of living in a house — doing laundry and making food — will be a major theme and the connection with home appliances will be made," Bristow said.
That fits with the brand integration aims of LG, which doesn't do TV, but instead targets the consumer mind to sell flat screen TVs, cell phones, laptop computers and home appliances. Hockey Wives will also follow audiences and advertisers by moving beyond TV to emerging digital platforms, including branded entertainment and social reach.
Bristow and W routinely posts Hockey Wives content online and even feature cast members in social communities, including Kin Community Canada which launched the online channel Pardon My French, starring Maripier Morin, girlfriend of Montreal Canadiens winger Brandon Prust.
That cross-platform presence isn't lost on LG, which did earlier product tie-ins for Hollywood studio tentpole movies like Iron Man and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
So with Hockey Wives, LG is allowing NHL families to take centre ring as it leverages the media property from the sidelines to get consumers to view its brands. For Bristow, associating bling smartphones and home appliances with reality TV stars living the dream of marrying NHL hockey players also aims to bring audiences back to linear TV just as reality TV overall is down in the ratings.
"The big opportunity for brand partnerships is to amplify the audience in ways that we may not completely understand, and we know that the reach of some of these brands is another way to activate audiences to come to content and a media property," Bristow argued.
Cast photo provided by the producers.
