23 replies to this topic

[Scott Stevens]

The NHL should be running ads showing empty basketball courts and then flashing to filled hockey arenas with roaring fans.

Why isn't there a "Watch Us" campaign right now?  

In my opinion, the NHL does the WORST job out of any professional sport marketing itself.  You're more likely to see an ad for premier league soccer than one for the NHL.  

Right now is a perfect time for the NHL to get a lot of new fans, and instead, they're focusing on Brendan Shanahan handing out 35 suspensions a week.  

Bad move if you ask me.

[GMRwings1983]

Yeah, the league has done a good job of marketing only two people.

Crosby and Ovechkin.


They seem totally disinterested in shoving any other athletes down anybody else's throats. But that's what marketing is and that's what other leagues have done. The league needs to promote other players.

[stevieisthebest]

I could be wrong but aren't Bettman and Stern (NBA's comish) really good friends, that would be a pretty classless move.

[GMRwings1983]

I could be wrong but aren't Bettman and Stern (NBA's comish) really good friends, that would be a pretty classless move.

Well, the NBA is a classless league, so it's all good.

[Shoreline]

They should market a Chara vs. Kobe fight.

[lookalive07]

They should market.

[Zohan Franzen]

Talking about bad marketing ! We don´t even have TV coverage at the moment, because the NHL sold the rights to some retarded media group

[VM1138]

And then when they do have marketing it's always really cheesy.

[Electrophile]

The NHL is never going to have the same kind of audience or marketing presence as the other three major sports in this country. That ship has sailed. I don't see the point in getting aggravated over it.

[toby91_ca]

Can someone help me understand why we should care about marketing? I could understand if I was an employee with a Company that isn't doing as well as they should and it was attributed to poor marketing, jobs on the line, etc. But, why the hell should I care about NHL marketing?

[Shoreline]

Can someone help me understand why we should care about marketing? I could understand if I was an employee with a Company that isn't doing as well as they should and it was attributed to poor marketing, jobs on the line, etc. But, why the hell should I care about NHL marketing?

Marketing has long taken over quality control, quality assurance. I would suggest Naomi Klein's book No Logo, only the first half (the second is more a rant on globalisation), for more information-based history on marketing and the enormous change of how products used to sell themselves on quality and now quality suffers to the hands of marketing, which politicians, in the last decade or two, took notice on, and have followed in kind, because it works, sadly. With the attention the NHL gives to marketing, fans will certainly notice, which is also why we've had the qqfest about Crosby and Ovechkin in commercials and marketing attention.

[Scott Stevens]

Can someone help me understand why we should care about marketing? I could understand if I was an employee with a Company that isn't doing as well as they should and it was attributed to poor marketing, jobs on the line, etc. But, why the hell should I care about NHL marketing?

Uhhh, maybe so we can watch more games on TV instead of having to buy a package or watch them on the internet. Remember when ESPN was running hockey games all the time? That was cool. Now you'll get to see the Red Wings on national TV once or twice a season. Imagine the Yankees being on TV 4 times during the year. There's NO WAY. Marketing is crucial so there's more money league wide. Remember when we missed an entire season of NHL hockey? You don't think money had anything to do with that? It's not hard to connect the dots as to why marketing is important.

[St. Michael (the Red Wing)]

The NHL is never going to have the same kind of audience or marketing presence as the other three major sports in this country. That ship has sailed. I don't see the point in getting aggravated over it.

This X [2]

[Electrophile]

Uhhh, maybe so we can watch more games on TV instead of having to buy a package or watch them on the internet. Remember when ESPN was running hockey games all the time? That was cool. Now you'll get to see the Red Wings on national TV once or twice a season. Imagine the Yankees being on TV 4 times during the year. There's NO WAY. Marketing is crucial so there's more money league wide. Remember when we missed an entire season of NHL hockey? You don't think money had anything to do with that? It's not hard to connect the dots as to why marketing is important.

Marketing is important, but it's only as important as the product is popular. Meaning, you could create an ad campaign to shame all other ad campaigns for a car that runs on human poop, but if there is no demand or at the least very little demand, it doesn't matter how much you market that car, no one will buy it.

The same applies here to the NHL. It doesn't matter if Sidney Crosby is the face of the NHL or Pavel Datsyuk is. If there is little desire to watch the sport outside of markets that have a team, or at least hockey-oriented markets, you're not going to get a lot of pull. How much money would you want the league to spend on something that will garner little if any, return on their investment? I mean, you may get a few upticks in specific markets, but is that going to be worth the amount of money laid out to get them?

[Scott Stevens]

Marketing is important, but it's only as important as the product is popular. Meaning, you could create an ad campaign to shame all other ad campaigns for a car that runs on human poop, but if there is no demand or at the least very little demand, it doesn't matter how much you market that car, no one will buy it.

The same applies here to the NHL. It doesn't matter if Sidney Crosby is the face of the NHL or Pavel Datsyuk is. If there is little desire to watch the sport outside of markets that have a team, or at least hockey-oriented markets, you're not going to get a lot of pull. How much money would you want the league to spend on something that will garner little if any, return on their investment? I mean, you may get a few upticks in specific markets, but is that going to be worth the amount of money laid out to get them?

I'm not saying they have to spend millions upon millions of dollars. Marketing isn't always about spending money. It's about displaying your product. Why can't the NHL offer TBS/NBC/ESPN and any other channel that had their NBA games cancelled an NHL game in each NBA's game place in return for being allowed to run a few ads during the games? Or something like that? Hockey is the most exciting sport to watch. The NHL just doesn't show it off like it should.

[Electrophile]

No, marketing isn't just about spending money, but in order to get your product out there, you have to spend it. Now, you say that the NHL should offer channels like ESPN the opportunity to air hockey games in the NBA's absence due to the lock-out. Channels need contracts with that specific sport to air that sport's content. ESPN can't just up and decide to air hockey games without a contract with the NHL for those games. ESPN won't enter into a contract unless they're going to get the money they spent on it back. If they thought there was money to be made in airing hockey games, they'd be airing them already. Same goes with TBS. NBC has a contract with the NHL, but it doesn't start until after January, IIRC.

The point is, marketing is useless if there's no demand for the product. You could say that marketing will create the demand, but this is sort of like the chicken and the egg scenario. For fans, we see it as "marketing will create the demand", a "if you build it, they will come" kind of thing. For the league, it's a "demand will necessitate the marketing", a "we'll build it if they come" kind of thing. The league has more to lose than we do, so they're the ones assuming the risk. If they spend the money, even a small pithy amount, and get no ROI on it, they'll be less likely to do so in the future.

/marketing major
//is it obvious
///sorry to bore people

[Kindl Surprise]

To anyone saying a cool marketing campaign won't get people watching the sport, when there are no other sports on tv are wrong. I gave MLS a shot this summer just because I was so bored and a couple of commercials made it look half decent. I even tried to get into regular season baseball at one point

[Electrophile]

Baseball is an inherently American sport, though there are very, very talented players from all over the world. I wouldn't necessarily expect someone in Canada, that doesn't live in Toronto at least, to be that interested in baseball, splashy commercials or no. Hockey is more fast-paced, baseball is more a game of strategy, and you'd have to know enough about said strategy to find any interest in the game. For example, knowing when a manager should call for a squeeze play, or when to call for a hit-and-run, or even when to put on a shift for a specific kind of hitter.......those nuances are lost to people that aren't in love with the sport, and just sitting down and watching it.....you'd get lost and change the channel. So I understand how marketing didn't make the sport more interesting - an ad campaign can't imbue you with either that knowledge, or that interest.

[Scott Stevens]

Baseball is an inherently American sport, though there are very, very talented players from all over the world. I wouldn't necessarily expect someone in Canada, that doesn't live in Toronto at least, to be that interested in baseball, splashy commercials or no. Hockey is more fast-paced, baseball is more a game of strategy, and you'd have to know enough about said strategy to find any interest in the game. For example, knowing when a manager should call for a squeeze play, or when to call for a hit-and-run, or even when to put on a shift for a specific kind of hitter.......those nuances are lost to people that aren't in love with the sport, and just sitting down and watching it.....you'd get lost and change the channel. So I understand how marketing didn't make the sport more interesting - an ad campaign can't imbue you with either that knowledge, or that interest.

Everytime you say something, you make my point stronger = the NHL needs better marketing.

[toby91_ca]

Uhhh, maybe so we can watch more games on TV instead of having to buy a package or watch them on the internet. Remember when ESPN was running hockey games all the time? That was cool. Now you'll get to see the Red Wings on national TV once or twice a season. Imagine the Yankees being on TV 4 times during the year. There's NO WAY. Marketing is crucial so there's more money league wide. Remember when we missed an entire season of NHL hockey? You don't think money had anything to do with that? It's not hard to connect the dots as to why marketing is important.

Well, I guess what you are saying is the if you advertise better, the game will become more popular, therefore be available more widely on national TV. I guess that's at least a small reason, but really doesn't matter to me. I live in Canada, so when ESPN was showing games, it didn't mean anything for me. I grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada...still do. TSN came along a little later and now I also get any game I want on Centre Ice. Personally, I don't mind paying for the package, but for someone that does, it really doesn't matter how popular the game becomes, you'll never be able to get the same ability to see whatever you want on free national TV.