Usually, city rivalries related to sporting match-ups involve wacky wagers from politicians. The mayor of City X wants 100 pounds of cheese from the governor of City Y if City X wins the Super Bowl. But for the 2013 Stanley Cup between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks, the wacky wagers are getting social and, well, smack-talky. The folks over at Arnold Boston and Leo Burnett in Chicago are using the Stanley Cup to launch their own trash-talking competition for charity: The Smackley Cup. Agency employees and random fans from all over are encouraged to tweet using #smacktalkboston or #smacktalkchicago. Once the series concludes, the agency supporting the loser of the Stanley Cup will have to donate 10 cents per tweet and retweet to a charity AND wear the opposing team’s sweater in the office the following day. That sort of masochism always makes for fun water cooler talk.
While we’re on the subject of Stanley Cup competitiveness, tonight’s Game 3 will feature the annual tv spot from NHL, NBC, and mono. This year’s installment is “Handshake,” a touchy look at the final interaction between the winners and losers once the series ends. The spot might pull on some sentimental strings, but it has good bloodlines – the 2010 commercial “No Words” won an Emmy for it’s take on how certain champions react in post-game interviews immediately after winning the cup. More heartfelt than smack-talking, but there’s plenty of content to go around for hockey lovers.