The National Hockey League's efforts to reconnect with its fan base -- first detailed in the May 2008 issue of 1to1 Magazine -- have proven successful thus far, with increases in game attendance, TV ratings, and online activities. Key to those gains, says Perry Cooper, senior vice president of digital and direct marketing and fan analytics, is a refocus on one-to-one marketing, beginning with determining each fan's favorite team.
"That is the single most critical data point you can have in sports marketing," he says. "Our tactics and strategy are based as much as possible on determining each fan's favorite team and customizing our products to accentuate that. It's about building loyalty and making us more relevant. The more we can do that, the better off we'll be."
For example, Cooper and his team have customized the NHL's monthly e-newsletter with a cover photo of a relevant player from each subscriber's favorite team, as well as news items specific to that team and general NHL league news. The organization also sends relevant email promotions and offers for merchandise based on a fan's favorite team.
The practice of focusing communications to fans based on their favorite team is something Cooper has learned from Major League Baseball. "It's a matter of seeking out a proven pattern of behavior around a specific team. I happen to be a fan of both the Dodgers and the Mets, but [MLB] still markets to me pretty effectively."
By engaging fans on a team level, the league believes it can also better keep them interested in the NHL at large. Improving the breaking news and feature story content on NHL.com, continuing third-party outreach such as its Yahoo-powered online fantasy games, and providing what Cooper calls an "unparalleled" online video library are all designed to give fans a broader experience that the NHL feels will ultimately drive higher interest in its January 1 "Winter Classic" game and the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Core to the organization's efforts to gain customer insight has been the relaunch of its website, www.NHL.com, designed to give fans a deeper, more personalized NHL experience. The league asks users to choose their favorite team when registering, and Cooper says the organization actively profiles fans' favorites through their online purchasing habits-someone who regularly buys Detroit Red Wings merchandise, for instance, is likely a Red Wings fan-and geo-filtering through tracking a user's IP address.
"We can then start personalizing our messaging to them with a Red Wings cover on our catalog," he says. "And if it turns out they're not a Red Wings fan, believe me, they'll let you know."
So far, the group's new approach is paying off. For the current season's first month, October, the NHL set an attendance record with a per-game average of 17,388, marking the first time in league history that the first month of the season surpassed 17,000 fans per game, with total attendance up by 3.1 percent from October 2007. The NHL also set an October record for percent of capacity, at 94.1 percent.
TV ratings were also up, with 5 percent gains both in the U.S. (on cable network Versus) and in Canada (on cable network TSN). Twenty-one of the league's 30 teams had local ratings that were higher than or on par with those from a year ago.
Perhaps most impressive, however, are the gains made online. The new site realized a 7 percent year-over-year increase in unique visitors worldwide, despite having six fewer game days this year than last. And NHL Network Online drove a 30 percent year-over-year increase in unique visitors to NHL.com video. In addition, Shop.NHL.com recorded a 27 percent rise in sales of NHL-licensed products.
Also in October, the league introduced NHL GameCenter Live, an interface for watching NHL games online that resulted in an increase to the site's subscriber base of nearly 270 percent.
Many of these gains, Cooper believes, can be attributed to customized marketing efforts revolving around favorite teams. "These people are inviting us in," he says, "so we need to hold up our end of the bargain."