This month, Sears, Hoffman Estates, IL, will play host to the National Hockey League’s top prize, the Stanley Cup, in the seventh-annual NHL/Sears Bring the Cup Home Sweepstakes. From May 8 through June 15, shoppers at Sears stores in the four markets that have teams in the NHL finals will get the chance to be the guardian of hockey’s top prize for a day.
While Sears has hosted the sports promotion for the last several years, Purchase, NY-based MasterCard joins the mix this time around. Consumers are automatically entered into the sweeps anytime they use their MasterCard at select Sears stores.
The sweepstakes will let one winner from the city of the 2003 Stanley Cup championship team take the cup home for a day (something each member of the winning team gets to do as well, according to NHL tradition).
Sears shoppers will also get the chance to have their pictures taken with the Cup during stops at select Sears locations in the four finalist markets.
The promotion will be supported by point-of-sale materials, print, radio and online ads. MasterCard will also support with its Keeper of the Cup TV campaign, which features real life Stanley Cup “bodyguard” Phil Pritchard, who safeguards the Cup on the road. Although a long-term sponsor of the NHL, MasterCard has done little with the league over the last five years. “This is the first foray for us into the U.S. with a hardcore NHL sponsorship in quite a while,” says MasterCard spokesperson Mark Levy.
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