from Alexanda Bruell of the Wall Street Journal,
WSJ: You recently left a sexy digital music business to join a 100-year-old sports league. What’s your mandate?
MS. BROWNING: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman gave me one clear goal, and that’s to grow our sport. Our mission is to modernize our approach and take a fresh look at the marketing mix to find new ways to engage new and future fans. The real focus here is extending the reach of the NHL brand—driving viewership, digital audience, engagement with the app, increasing social followers. How does that drive our NHL TV sales, merchandise sales and ticket sales? The commissioner encouraged me to take a blank-canvas approach to growth.
WSJ: Who are your current fans and some of the new fans you’re looking to reach?
MS. BROWNING: We need to broaden beyond hard-core fans and expand to casual fans. Millennials and Gen Z are a huge focus for us. I believe that we’ve got a sport that’s wired to the attitudes and behaviors of these generations, because they’re so action-focused. We’re absolutely looking to target more women. Our demographics are about 60% male and 40% female.
WSJ: How are you using fan data to drive growth?
MS. BROWNING: This is a huge initiative for us. There’s a data opportunity at the NHL across all touchpoints—ticket and merchandise purchase data, what fans are doing at the game, how they’re engaging across digital platforms and social media.
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