Gary Bettman became Commissioner of The National Hockey League with a vision to make the league a marketing-driven force equal to the NFL, NBA and MLB. Thereby, “becoming a leading form of entertainment worldwide.”
While his vision initially created tremendous growth, our role with the league’s executive management was to guide development of their Strategic Vision for the 21st century. This included understanding the 1999 Current Profile of the NHL, and guiding them to envision their Future Profile, including: the role of the NHL vs. the Clubs, Fans, Business Partners, Corporate Sponsors, Geographic Markets, Media, etc.
In 2000 we led a Fan Panel at the annual NHL Club Marketing Meeting. The purpose of this panel was to allow Club personnel to hear fans from across North America respond in their own words to major issues the NHL was facing, including: in-arena fan experience, attendance barriers, player/club community image, season ticket holder experience, TV viewing habits, etc. Our role was to prepare the fans participating in the panel, and facilitate a fully-interactive session between the panelists and club personnel.
A few years later we were engaged to lead the executive management team in creating a vision for marketing the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The objectives were to increase TV ratings, increase fan awareness of top NHL players, and increase NHL media and corporate partners’ activation and investment. The result was a vision which included: documenting the Stanley Cup Brand and the emotional benefits it provides, creative platform, media, role of the NHL vs. the Clubs, etc.
Next, we were asked to make a presentation about Brand Strategy Development to the business side of all 30 NHL teams at their annual 2008 NHL Club Business Meetings. The focus of our presentation was on the importance of creating a brand-building culture within each club in order to drive profitable top-line growth.
Engaged with:
NHL
- Steve Solomon
- Bill Daly
- Ed Horne
- Craig Harnett
- John Shannon
- Doug Perlman
- Karen Durkin
- Keith Ritter
- Kathy Drew
- Alysse Soll
- Brian Jennings
- Doug Brooks
- Ken Rosen
- Ken Yaffe
- Susan Cohig
- Gary Meagher
- Bernadette Mansur
- Steve Hatze Petros
- Frank Brown
Rogers & Cowan
- Heather Krug
Consultant on Creative Campaign
- Scott Weinstock
William Morris Agency
- Paul Furia