Despite the best efforts of Gary Bettman, the outdoor NHL hockey game between Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins garnered the NHL’s best ratings since 1996. In case you didn’t hear about this, which I didn’t until the game was over, this game was played at 1 pm on New Years day, a holiday that most of us associate with NHL hockey. The advertising plan was equally spectacular as Bettman went door to door to several houses in his neighborhood to tell people about the game. In any event, something worked, because the game brought in five share on NBC (2.6 million households).
Now that we know what works Gary, we have to exploit it. It seems that if you play the game anywhere but in an arena, ratings soar, regardless of whether the NHL does anything to promote the game or even if it plays it against the biggest football day this side of SuperBowl Sunday.
So Gary, because your marketing department is obviously run by Matt Millen’s immediate family, I have put together five destinations that would put asses in front of the TV to watch hockey again.
Strip Club – Even if the game is awful, fans would get to stare at boobies for a few hours, and that is never a bad thing.
Bear Baiting Match – Many of us are familiar with the time honored tradition of pitting two starving dogs in a ring against a live bear in a fight to the death. Why not add a little ice, and twelve hockey players trying to score goals into the mix?
Ball Pit – Chucky Cheese – Once again, even if the game is terrible, every goes home with Pizza, a little ski-ball fun, and a slap bracelet if they are lucky enough to procure 18 tickets.
SeaWorld – If you play it at SeaWorld you may get some crossover traffic from the seal show. Not to mention you may begin to garner interest in warm weather states, where hockey has traditionally struggled.
Finally, the most ridiculous place that anyone could attempt to play hockey is in the desert, around Phoenix or something like that. How dumb would it be to play a sport in an area that doesn’t get within 20 degrees of freezing? Not only have these people not even seen ice, but they would probably have no inclination to even watch a game. Wait…what’s that? The NHL has a franchise in Phoenix already? They already play games in the desert, AND no one goes? Oh okay then, Gary, scrap that idea, but I would run with the other four. You are welcome.
The Angry T
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Thursday I was searching for sites related to Marketing and specifically gorila marketing plan and I found your site.
Your RSS feed is only working every now and then, i’m on a mac running shrook if that helps