Alex Ovechkin goes medieval in marketing campaign

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is going medieval as part of a new marketing campaign for the free-to-play mobile strategy game "Throne: Kingdom at War."
Ovechkin is one of four internationally renowned athletes who are joining together to promote the player-vs.-player combat game. Also part of the medieval-themed "Brotherhood of the Wolf" are Tony Parker of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, former mixed martial arts middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Spanish professional soccer player Fernando Torres of Atletico Madrid.

Plarium, a developer of mobile, social and web-based games with more than 250 million users worldwide, debuted the campaign in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Germany on Wednesday.
"Throne: Kingdom at War" is set in a fictional medieval world where online players fight to claim the ancient throne of the Kingdom of Amaria. To reflect the era when the game takes place, Ovechkin is shown in one advertisement wearing a Throne-themed hockey jersey that is partially covered in armor.
Instead of holding a sword like some of the other challengers to the throne flanking him, Ovechkin is holding a hockey stick with the blade up.
Another ad features half-profile photos of Ovechkin, Parker, Silva and Torres side by side as part of what Plarium is calling the "Brotherhood of the Wolf."
"The purpose of this campaign is to highlight the spectrum of emotions that players can experience in the game through our ability to give them the best opportunity to cooperate with each other, and exercise their desire to compete and achieve victory whether alone or with a team," Plarium vice president of marketing Roman Zhdanov said. "We selected some of the best athletes across a variety of sports to convey this emotional lift that the game provides, because nearly everyone has seen the uplifting power of sports."