Door Number 3 Introduces Professional Hockey to Greater Austin with Campaign for Texas Stars

Campaign for new team includes one of the world’s largest hockey sticks

Austin, TX (11.7.08) – To build anticipation and excitement for Greater Austin’s new professional hockey team, the Texas Stars, local boutique branding agency, Door Number 3 is launching a multi-faceted advertising campaign targeting the greater Austin metro area. The campaign, which includes one of the world’s largest hockey sticks, communicates the exhilaration of professional hockey coming to the Austin area in the fall of 2009.

The campaign for the Dallas Stars primary development team features high-impact outdoor messaging including unique, attention-grabbing 14′ × 48′ billboards the likes few have ever seen. One such billboard will showcase a giant, custom-built 45-foot hockey stick that will run from the ground, all the way up the board pole, the apparatus that holds the actual billboard in place. The hockey stick, which is built of wood and vinyl, is so large it required a custom-built pop-out extension and stabilizing framework.

Other unique billboards will include a hockey stick merging with a massive guitar, representing the convergence of professional hockey and the thriving Austin music scene. Another billboard will feature an enormous black cowboy boot morphing into a hockey skate.

“The campaign illustrates how professional hockey will fit naturally into the dynamic and unique Austin market,” said Suzanne Kyba, principal at Door Number 3. “Hometown hockey will add yet another exciting element to an already diverse scene. Our campaign will drive fan excitement and interest in a team that this area will proudly call its own.”

“The Austin area is a passionate sports market, and fans will soon have the opportunity to support these world-class athletes performing right in their backyard,” said Rick McLaughlin, president of the Texas Stars. “With this attention-grabbing campaign from Door Number 3, we’ll be able to communicate all the intensity, drama, and fun professional hockey has to offer.”

The first outdoor billboard posted the week of November 3. The campaign also includes 30-sheet outdoor boards, newspaper ads, which began to run in late October, and direct mail pieces featuring the hockey stick / guitar and cowboy boot / skate mentioned above. All ads will promote the custom url of HereComeTheStars.com. The initial stage of the campaign will run through March, with a second leg launching near the beginning of the Stars season.

About the Texas Stars – The Texas Stars are the NHL’s Dallas Stars primary development team. The new team will play at the new 9,000-seat Cedar Park Event Center, which will open in the fall of 2009. The Cedar Park Event Center has over 181,000 square feet of space, and will also be used for music concerts, basketball games, tennis matches, indoor soccer games, rodeos, trade shows, figure skating, and conventions. For team ticket information, call 512-GO-STARS. For booking information, call Steve Grossman at 480-502-8100.

About Door Number 3 (www.dn3austin.com)
Since its beginning in 1994, indie-shop, Door Number 3 has unlocked and unleashed its unique style of advertising and branding for clients from coast to coast. While respecting standard practices and appreciating proven methods, the maverick boutique shop goes far beyond causing consumer reaction. Instead, Door Number 3 influences behavior. Based in culturally and creatively rich Austin, Texas, the award-winning advertising, media and interactive agency represents a diverse stable of clients including The Dallas Stars, Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa, The Texas Rangers, Habitat for Humanity, The University of Wyoming, Dallas/Fort Worth Area Tourism Council and CEDRA Corporation.

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