Look Your Superstitious Best This NHL Postseason With ESPN's 'Lucky Beard Oil'
Are you an NHL player—or fan!—who's grown out his facial hair for luck in the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs? If you've followed that post-season tradition, as time-honored in its way as the trophy "handoff," your jowls might be feeling a tad mangy by now.
Well, scratch no more! Last week, ESPN sent 70 "Lucky Beard Oil" kits to teams still alive in the playoffs. Influencers and media pros got some, too.
Developed by Arts & Letters Creative Co., the kits include the conditioning oil, plus grooming combs shaped like hockey sticks and leather travel cases resembling sports-equipment bags:
High Point Originals created the soothing oil, which contains argan, jojoba and sweet almond to enhance shine and reduce frizziness (so, you'll look glam for perfect for postgame interviews!).
"Playoff beards are such a unique and storied tradition during the Stanley Cup playoffs. We wanted to celebrate this by giving fans and players the ability to participate, while also adding a little extra luck into their chin lettuce," says A&L creative Sam Christian.
ESPN takes a deep, shaggy dive into NHL beards in this online feature. (So very many ice-skating hippies!)
The cable network will promote the kits across Instagram, TikTok and live integrations. Later this month, John King of "All Hockey Hair" fame will choose an ESPN All-Beard Team.
Hill Shore, business director at A&L, describes "Lucky Beard Oil" as a natural outgrowth of the agency's efforts to expand ESPN's pop-culture playbook.
"We're setting out to elevate the stories, moments, players, fans, traditions—and so many other things that happen in sports which go beyond the game," he says. "These things make up the soul of sports which inspire fans everywhere. In this case, NHL players have been growing out scraggly beards for years in the name of playoff luck. That's amazing. It's important that we honor the things that make sports so special to fans."
CREDITS
Arts & Letters Creative Co.
FOUNDER/EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Charles Hodges
MANAGING DIRECTOR: Rich Weinstein
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY: Andy Grayson
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION: Temma Shoaf
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Molly Jamison, NJ Placentra, Andrew Kong
CREATIVE TEAM: Sam Christian, Brendan Howard
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Calleen Colburn
PRODUCER: Sean Riojas
ASSISTANT PRODUCER: London Scalise
GROUP BUSINESS DIRECTOR: Brenda Scheinder
BUSINESS DIRECTOR: Hill Shore
BUSINESS MANAGER: Nana Dadzie
PRODUCTION CO:
Arts & Letters Creative Co. - XYZ
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Whitney Green
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: Adrian Mojica
SENIOR PRODUCER: Libbie Crane
PHOTOGRAPHER: Ethan Hickerson
ESPN
Laura Gentile, EVP Commercial Marketing, Disney Networks & ESPN
Seth Ader, VP, Brand Marketing, ESPN
Peter Mulally, Director, Brand Marketing, ESPN
John Lobo, Associate Director, Brand Marketing, ESPN
Lenny Washington, Coordinator, Brand Marketing, ESPN
