Turning The Page On NHL Marketing

An Exercise In Futility

Trying to swoon the majority of the United States market into adopting ice hockey as a major sport worthy of prime time television slots, major advertising dollars, and premium ticket prices has been a daunting task for the National Hockey League.

To the seasoned hockey fan, the sheer speed and grace of the professional game is enough to send goosebumps up our spines. As hard as it may be for us to understand, that is simply not the case for the average North American television viewer.

Why not?

It could be argued that the athletic ability of professional hockey players is unparalleled in sport. In all seriousness, anyone with an athletic bone in their body can run and jump, but not just anyone can skate. Skating is a skill in and of itself and the skating ability of professional hockey players, save Dustin Penner and Wade Belak, is something to be marveled.You Can’t Say We Didn’t Try!
The National Hockey League has made great strides in the past year when it comes to marketing the product. While the league has tried several changes to the actual game to make it more appealing by trying to increase the amount of goals scored, we will focus on the attempts to market the product outside of rule changes.The league hired a marketing professional from the National Football League, John Collins, who promptly got the National Hockey League to adopt the internet as a channel to get the sport to appeal to the youth.

The owner of the Washington Capitals, Ted Leonsis, has a legitimate account on facebook.com. Even the Phoenix Coyotes have jumped on board and now have an official Myspace account, which can be viewed here:

http://www.myspace.com/phoenixcoyoteshockeyclub

YouTube Is A Bigger Deal Than TV
While failing miserably at every corner while trying to lure a major television contract, the National Hockey League is embracing the power of viral social media internet marketing. Rather than fighting internet video, the NHL has adopted it and has positioned itself to utilize this medium as a channel to reach fans. In addition, Youtube will be placing ads on its videos for which the publisher (In this case the NHL) will receive a portion of the advertising revenue for each impression of the ad. As I mentioned last season, the NHL is becoming more and more marketing savvy with each passing day.

RBK Edge Jerseys

The new Reebok Edge Jerseys have, no doubt, driven apparel sales leading up to the season. However, there is some controversy in the early going that the jerseys are actually falling apart at the seams! It appears that the material the jerseys are made of, while lightweight and flexible, is also not durable enough.

There have also been several complaints by players that the jerseys are not as breathable, trapping in the body heat, causing them to perspire more and thus become uncomfortable.

Just what the NHL needed; an insanely expensive marketing ploy “improvement” to the game based solely on an inferior product.

International game

Scheduling a game between two teams to open the season in a foreign country is not something new to major sports. In fact, it may be one of the tactics the the NHL has borrowed from the National Football League in order to create some “buzz” at the beginning of a season.

However, Mr. Bettman in his infinite wisdom, sparked off a very heated debate over the NHL’s potential expansion to Europe.

Listen, the NHL cannot even begin to think about expanding to Europe unless they are going to make the step all at once to create an entire conference of European teams. You think the league has travel issues with the current schedule?

I mean what other possible solution could there be to solving the NHL’s problems? Yikes!

Outdoor Game

Scheduling another outdoor game, this time in the United States, is a bold move by league officials.Although Ralph Wilson stadium sold out in minutes for the highly anticipated game between the Sabres and Penguins, there was almost immediate backlash by fans in the way that the ticket sales were handled. It seems that blocks of tickets were sold to brokers and scalpers, with the only way for a common fan to purchase a ticket was to part with their first born child on Ebay! Obviously, this was not what the NHL had intended for this event.

I must admit that at first glance I was not too impressed with the way this game was scheduled. However, upon further examination, it seems to be another brilliant piece of marketing at work.

The game was located in such a way that the fans of the two participating teams would be able to attend without extensive travel. In addition, the location is strategically placed within driving distance of a hockey hungry Canadian market and the large metropolitan markets of the Northeast.

Everything seemed to be looking up for the event…until the tickets went on sale.

One step forward…two steps back.

The Young and the Rubicam

The National Hockey League has hired the New York based Ad Agency, Young &Rubicam to lead the marketing campaign kicking off the 2007-2008 season.

John Collins, who hired the firm, has worked with the company previously during his time as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing with the NFL. Here’s to hoping that Mr. Collins can get the same results from Y&R for the NHL.

The new marketing campaign will feature television, print, digital, and cinema based ads that will be focused around the beginning of the regular season on October 3.

I can’t wait to see what they come up with this season. I was reasonably impressed with last year’s “Game On” Campaign commercials.

Final Thoughts

I’m optimistic about the apparent marketing plan of the NHL. We may not see the fruits of the labor this season, or even next year. However, we can take comfort in the fact that we have a new season of hockey to enjoy regardless of what the “suits” in the offices are doing. This season has a lot in store; great up and coming stars, veterans who are nearing milestones, and a lot of new faces in new places to start the season.

I’m not sure about you, but I just can’t wait for that puck to drop and watch some of the greatest athletes in the world battle it out for 60 minutes a night!