In order for people to watch sports, they need to be
promoted. Promotions can take place in
many different ways. There can be a
focus on a specific player, advertisements in magazines, and most commonly,
television commercials. Those are just
to name a few methods. So how does the
National Hockey League promote themselves and their teams? In order to promote the league, they use all
of these methods. According to
Nielsen.com, the Winter Classic saw the highest amount of viewers out of all
the big games the NHL has. For those who
don’t know, the Winter Classic is a game in which two teams are selected to
play an outdoor hockey game. So, why did
the Winter Classic get more viewers than the Stanley Cup games in 2012? The Winter Classic had and still has a great
promotion tactic. When the Winter
Classic started, the NHL made an HBO series called, “Road to the NHL Winter
Classic”. The series gives fans a look
at the teams as they prepare for the game.
It also gets the fans excited for the game. Do you think that the NHL should do a similar
series for the Stanley Cup games? Would
it raise the viewing for the games?
In addition to having an HBO series to promote the league
and teams, the league also relies on other media sources such as Sports
Illustrated. A few days ago, the
magazine released an article promoting certain final week games for people to
watch. Allan Muir declared, “We know you
can’t watch ‘em all, so here are five that we deem to be can’t-miss.” Muir then promoted the five can’t-miss games,
saying who was playing, when they were playing, and what channel they were
on. There are also multiple television commercials
using many popular NHL players. When I
was younger, there were these commercials using players, Jeremy Roenick and
Anson Carter. I was unfortunately unable
to find these commercials but they were funny and promoted themselves as
players as well as the league.
Currently, there are commercials being aired to promote the NHL
GameCenter app. These are commercials
that have been on the air for a few years now.
These commercials are humorous and easy to remember because some of them
are so strange. The league also does a
good job at promoting players as normal people (see commercial below). If it doesn't work, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07R5T9ekAXw
Like most people and several organizations, the NHL has a
Twitter account. In this day and age,
Twitter is a great form of self-promotion.
Jeremy Mullman says, “The NHL has generally been among the most
aggressive sports leagues in terms of its digital offerings and efforts,
including an online subscription service that offers live broadcasts of every
NHL game.” I follow the NHL on Twitter
and I think they do a great job of promoting all the teams in the league as
well as the big games these teams play.
Due to the fact that the season is still in full swing, the Twitter page
is constantly tweeting about and promoting the games that are on that night
with a few words and a picture. The
NHL’s Twitter page is currently promoting the “NHL Bracket Challenge” in which
fans can predict the upcoming playoffs.
In addition to their own Twitter page, the NHL also has a YouTube
channel where they post game highlights, player interviews, and commercials.
One example of a team that does well with promotion is the
Columbus Blue Jackets. They are
constantly promoting themselves across Ohio, trying to get more people to
attend their games and events. The Blue
Jackets don’t just do television commercials as a form of team promotion. They have their logo on three brands of beers
so fans can collect them. It also gets
their logo out there and intrigues people.
In addition to the logo beers, the team has a deal with participating
Cold Stones and Tim Hortons (donut place).
At Cold Stones, people have the option of buying the “Stinger Creation”
and at Tim Hortons people can buy a Stinger donut. Stinger is there mascot and this appeals to a
younger audience (bluejackets.com).
How do you think the NHL compares to other professional
sports organizations as far as promotion goes?
Do you think that there are other methods the NHL could use to help
their promotion efforts? Overall, I
believe that the NHL and its teams do a good job of promoting themselves to
people of all ages. With their Twitter
pages, television commercials, fun food, and logoed beer, the NHL does not seem
to miss a beat when it comes to the promotion of their sport.
Works Cited:
"2012 Year in Sports." Nielsen.com. Accessed 15 Dec.
2013. Web.
Muir,
Allan. "Games to Watch: NHL 2014 Season’s Final Week Key Matchups
(April 7-13)." Home Ice SIcom RSS. Sports Illustrated, 07 Apr.
2014. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Mullman,
Jeremy. "NHL Hosts Tweetups for Hockey Fans." Advertising Age
Digital RSS. N.p., 14 Apr. 2009. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
"NHL
Road Trip Promo (Extended Version)." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Feb.
2007. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Advertising is the most effective means to get the word out about products, services, events, charities, and just about anything else that marketers can think of. Advertising in sports has helped the sports world grow into one of the most profitable industries in the world. “National TV sports generated $10.9 billion in advertising expenditure last year, compared to $10.3 one year prior, according to Nielsen’s State of the Media: Year in Sports (Nielsen). I am not a big hockey fan compared to football or basketball but I do love watching HBO’s series “Road to the NHL Winter Classic”. Once fans figure which teams will participate in the Winter Classic, it’s awesome to see the wide open access the teams provide on and off the ice. This gives fans an authentic sense of what it takes to play in the NHL and just how special players really are regardless if you love or hate them. The way the series captures the teams definitely attracts new fans and people like me who aren’t necessarily die hards, but are truly captivated with the phenomenal storytelling. Of course the series wouldn’t work if teams, coaches and players don’t cooperate with a camera in their face all the time but it definitely is an innovative series. But to answer your question Chelsea whether the NHL should do a similar series for the Stanley Cup games, I don’t think they should. For one I don’t know if HBO would have enough resources or equipment to follow all 16 teams on their long tense journey through out the Stanley Cup playoffs. Two, when playoffs start I think it should be private because everything has been elevated to a whole new level from emotions, intensity, and competitiveness. The reason players on any team endure the long grueling season is to experience that indescribable feeling when winning a championship. Emotions run high during the playoffs and the players would be so intense that I don’t think coaches or players want cameras chronicling their highs and lows each game they play. It would really be unfortunate if a player or coach were to say or do something inappropriate in front of the camera if they were to lose and have fans perception of them change because of it.
ReplyDeleteI think all professional sports organizations do a pretty good job as far as promotion goes. They make pretty creative ads to that are not only humorous but still are able to get their message across to the fans. The only thing that holds organizations back from each other is the amount of avid fans that actually gravitate to each sport. Baseball once the most popular sport in America is now second to the NFL and NHL is in sixth according to a survey taken by the Harris Poll (Rovell). And you can see that come to light where an average of 12.4 million people visit NFL.com compared to the 3.7 million people who visit NHL.com when both seasons are in session (Nielsen). I am sure that sports organizations will come up with innovative ways to promote their sport as technology progresses but overall, I think the NHL does a good job of promoting themselves for fans.
Works Cited
"2012 Year in Sports." Nielsen.com. Accessed 15 Dec. 2013. Web.
“Year in Sports Advertising.” Nielsen.com. Accessed 15 Dec. 2013. Web
Rovell, Darren. "NFL Most Popular for 30th Year In row." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 26 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
To start off, the HBO Series of the Winter Classic is a great example of larger promotion within the NHL. From what I can remember, NHL promotion has not been the best within the past ten years but has slowly progressed recently. Also, while hockey is my favorite sport to watch, I do not think it is as popular as baseball and football. I think one of the reasons as to why the Winter Classic has better promotion than the Stanley Cup is because it humanizes the players, so fans can relate and learn what is behind the mask and pads. My friend and I always watched the HBO series when the New York Rangers were playing and it made us feel closer to the team. The Stanley Cup does not do that. Of course it is harder because the Winter Classic has only two teams to focus on and months to plan for it, but with the playoffs you do not really know who is playing and cannot put that much effort into creating a show like what HBO has because the playoffs move so fast. I also know that the MSG Network has a show called “Beginnings” that focuses on one Rangers player per group. As a fan when I watch those shows I feel more connected with the players and when I watch them play I know more of their backstory. When we talked about celebrities last week, one of the big reasons why some celebrities are popular on social media is because they come across more human than others. Those little windows into their lives that show they are just like us. I follow some Rangers players on Instagram and they always post pictures of each other and them hanging out playing video games or other sports during their free time.
ReplyDeleteHowever, these insights into Hockey players’ lives have to be genuine. Once a fan figures out there is a publicist or agent behind the tweets, pictures and videos then the genuine aspect of the player decreases. For example, in “Ortiz-Obama selfie may be ‘end of all selfies’ at White House, senior adviser says” by Dylan Stableford looks back on the controversial selfie of Boston Red Sox player, David Ortiz and President Obama, took away the genuine picture with a Samsung endorsement. While Ortiz denied the endorsement and Obama claimed to have not known about it, fans probably will become more skeptical of famous selfies like that. The article states, " ‘When we heard about the visit to the White House, we worked with David and the team on how to share images with fans,’ the company said in a statement. ‘We didn’t know if or what he would be able to capture using his Note 3 device,’ “ (Stableford). Samsung and Ortiz obviously had some plans to promote the phone. I do not think fans find that positive that they are trying to sell something out of one of the few things that brings celebrities and their fans close.
I do not see hockey players endorsing a lot of products maybe because some are foreign or maybe because they are not as famous of athletes as other athletes in different sports. For fans, that is a good thing, they don’t see them constantly trying to sell them products. Yet for the NHL, it does not necessarily help promote the sport. However, the NHL gains a lot of support from advertisements that fans can maybe subconsciously associate the product and hockey together. A Nielsen report called, “Year in Sports Advertising: TV Ad Spend Grows to %10.9B” states sports leagues gained $10.9 billion on advertising for television. While hockey is only a fraction of the several sports in America, it is earning a decent amount that keeps the NHL comfortable with little work.
Marissa Himbele
Work Cited
Stableford, Dylan. "Ortiz-Obama selfie may be 'end of all selfies' at White House,"Yahoo News 6 April 2014. Web.
“Year in Sports Advertising.” Nielsen.com. Accessed 15 Dec. 2013. Web.
Cara Gilmartin
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I’m genuinely excited that there is a post about the NHL, because I’m going to love talking about this topic in class. Being a huge hockey fan, I loved reading your input on the NHL and its promotion tactics. In my opinion, the NHL has some of the most loyal fans in sports. Not only are these fans loyal, they truthfully do not ask for much. Professional hockey is certainly different from professional football or basketball in the sense that all the extra glitz and glamour isn’t really needed to keep the attention of fans and viewers. Straight up, hockey is about hockey. Their promotion tactics, to me, are promotion tactics that work. They’re simple, not overdone, and not aggressive enough to turn viewers off.
The NHL franchise really knows its audience. Without having an agreement with a big media outlet such as ESPN, the NHL really has to rely on other outlets for promotion. The local channel that covers a team’s games really does a great job of doing just enough promotion of the team. Having spent last semester interning at Madison Square Garden, I got to see firsthand a lot of what the MSG networks do to promote the NHL, and more specifically the New York Rangers. Nielsen reports that, “There were more than 42,500 hours of live sporting events on national broadcast and cable TV in 2011, a five percent increase over 2010.” (Nielsen) Without a contract with ESPN or other prominent networks such as ABC or FOX, these local channels are in charge of any and every ounce of promotion for their local professional team.
The New York Rangers’ official Twitter account is honestly one of my favorite accounts on Twitter. Confession: I tried really hard to find the account’s ghost tweeter while I was at MSG, but kept failing. Regardless, this specific account is constantly promoting the team, tickets to game, players in general, and events that are affiliated with the New York Rangers franchise. The NHL also has a contract with NBC Sports Network and airs “rivalry games” every Wednesday night. Because of this, NBC Sports is constantly promoting and advertising hockey. Also, Nielsen reports that, 3, 733,000 viewers tuned into the NHL Winter Classic in 2012. I think a huge reason why we see this viewership is because the teams involved in the Winter Classic do a great job of promoting the unique event, but so does NBC, because they have the luxury of airing the event.
In regards to social media, I agree that the NHL does a great job at promoting all of the teams that make up the organization. They also retweet many of the tweets that come from a specific team’s Twitter account. One reason I feel as though the NHL official account and the official accounts of specific teams both have a huge presence on social media is because of the fact that many of the players do not. Very rarely, I will come across a tweet from an NHL player, and that is even if they have a Twitter account. They are certainly not as active as players in other sports, like the NBA. Because of this, there’s an extra set of pressure on the NHL to make sure that the sport of hockey is being promoted enough. Because of social media’s instant gratification and the way sports fans take to it to find on the latest news and information, the public relations and marketing of the franchise need to be on point.
Works Cited
"2012 Year in Sports." Nielsen.com. Accessed 15 Dec. 2013. Web.
“Year in Sports Advertising.” Nielsen.com. Accessed 15 Dec. 2013. Web.