To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup, The Royal Canadian Mint has issued a new silver dollar and will use tv advertising for only the second time to promote it.
Jack Julien, vice-president of marketing and sales at the Mint, says the 30-second spot goes to air May 1 and runs until June 10.
The spot, featuring Hockey Hall of Famers Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau, will run extensively on cbc tv during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The spot will also air afternoons and during primetime on weekends.
The commercial will feature a toll-free number to order the coin or ask for more information.
A proof of the Stanley Cup Centennial Silver Dollar costs $23.95 and an uncirculated version costs $17.50.
Julien says the only other time the Mint used tv advertising was last May to promote its Canada 125 coin sets.
He says to support the Howe-Beliveau spot, the Mint plans a 500,000-catalogue mailing with up to 190,000 of them going to u.s. addresses.
He says the Stanley Cup coin will be advertised in the catalogue, alongside the Crown corporation’s other numismatic products.
According to Julien, the direct mail campaign is the centrepiece of marketing efforts.
He says the Royal Bank, Canada Post and the Canadian Home Shopping Network on cable tv will also sell the hockey coin, designed by Toronto artist Stewart Sherwood.
Julien says print support for the Stanley Cup silver dollar will be in all the hockey publications, and in such magazines as Time and Chatelaine, and adds there are plans to sell the coin through major retailers.
He says the Mint will work through distributors to move the hockey coin in the u.s., Europe and Asia.
The Mint kicked off promotion for the Stanley Cup coin at the new Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto earlier this month.
On hand to receive his own silver dollar was former Detroit great Howe, and former Toronto Maple Leaf standouts Darryl Sittler and Ron Ellis.
Julien says Howe and Beliveau have already bought a number of the hockey coins to distribute to the children they meet on their goodwill visits to hospitals and elsewhere.
He says the Mint plans its third foray into tv advertising in November for some new products which are a departure from what it traditionally sells.
