Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

An intriguing take on the lockout from the NHL's VP of Marketing's perspective

07/25/2013 at 3:06pm EDT

The Score found quite the gem from Anvil Media's Kent Lewis, who was attending an Ad Age conference in Portland, Oregon, when NHL Executive Vice-President of Marketing Brian Jennings showed up, and, according to Lewis, gave a frank and honest ownership and/or marketing's-side's assessment of the third lockout:

He opened with an interesting analogy of Nike shutting down and getting bad press, which is unimaginable, but that’s what happened with the NHL last year. The negotiations between owners and players came to a standstill on negotiation regarding compensation, pension, healthcare and Olympics participation.

In Canada, the media compared the 2012 lockout with the BP Oil Spill.

Jennings outlined the overall business and marketing strategy, starting with direct communications and contingency planning with the clubs/teams. The second audience was sponsors, partners and licensees, which was very complicated. The third and most important audience was the fans.

A refreshing approach the NHL took was to take the blame and own the issue. The NHL hosted impromptu games around North America in small communities. Clubs hosted clinics and events, or anything not involving the players. The Penguins tapped former players (and the mascot) to participate in events. The NHL focused on positive, but honest, messaging about the lockout, players and negotiations.

The NHL took the blame? And was honest about their dealings? Uh...Okay...Both sides spun PR like dinner plates on the ends of 6-foot-long poles...

The key messaging piece the NHL put together was a 2 minute video, Hockey is Back, announcing the return of NHL in January. In the end, the communications and marketing strategy played out well, backed by the Blackhawks incredible season. The season played to 97.5% average capacity, record TV ratings and NBC saw the highest ratings in 14 years and the most watched hockey season in 19 years. On the digital side, mobile app downloads increased 20% and page views were up 13%.

Overall, it was an interesting and informative presentation, although I was surprised Jennings avoided Nike’s answer to the lockout: Hockey is Ours.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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