TSN is pushing the net’s coverage of the 31st IIHF World Junior Championship with a multifaceted marketing plan. The campaign will involve on-air testimonials from players reminiscing while playing billiards or ball hockey with children, along with a massive three-piece billboard at Yonge/Dundas Square in downtown Toronto, a grassroots promotional stunt and a two-week national print and radio campaign.

The four 30-second spots (developed in-house) will air in high rotation on CTV, TSN, MuchMusic, MTV and NHL Network. The first two debuted December 3. Topical, game-specific promos will debut on TSN on December 20 and be refreshed following every Team Canada game, pushing viewers to the next Canadian match-up. The out-of-home elements include a billboard installed yesterday at Yonge/Dundas Square with a 60-foot hockey puck as the centerpiece (pictured), an elevated LCD video board at Yonge/Bloor which will televise the coverage live and transit shelter ads in Toronto and Vancouver. A TSN street team will greet commuters at Union Station with mock game tickets.

TSN will also leverage TSN.ca and the popular TSN Daily Email, as well as a 10-day external online media buy on popular sports websites including NHL.com, ESPN.com and SI.com, to further promote live coverage of all World Juniors games on TSN Broadband. Fifteen-second spots will also be produced specifically for TSN.ca.

Eight of TSN’s Top 10 programs of all time are World Juniors telecasts, and 20 World Juniors broadcasts have cracked the one-million-viewer mark. The 2003 Gold Medal Game from Halifax was the most watched program ever on TSN, with 3.5 million viewers.

The annual hockey tradition airs December 26 to January 5 on TSN, TSN HD and TSN Broadband. The net will televise and stream online live coverage of 11 games – all Team Canada round-robin games, one preliminary round game not involving Team Canada, two quarter-finals, both semifinals and the Bronze and Gold Medal games.