Measuring Success: Part 3 - Market Growth

I have had several incidents at the box office. It always has had to do with the promotions that the team is running. There have been two incidents where the internet information was not consistent with the box office information….like their hours of operation. The idiots at the box office(not everyone) are not given the authority to go outside the strict rules to make a customer happy. Like allowing someone to take advantage of a promotion if they arrive five minutes after a time constraint.

Correct me if I am wrong but….. I think the purpose of a promotion…….any promotion is to promote the team. If you are turned away after trying to take advantage of a promotion, how awful does that feel? I think it can act in the other direction…….drastically. For me, I would not be denied and spoke to my season ticket rep and she made it all better. Remember Canes…………listen to your fan base.

They clearly do not spend big dollars on pure marketing. That is fine with me…… Slowly and consistently over time they have created a very loyal fan base here. That is the right way………like word of mouth…..otherwise you end up with a fickle fan base. For thinking out of the box………..they have done very well. I think the experience is great. They certainly could give out more tshirts…………gee…..those girls never shoot them to our section. I like their approach. The feeling here is that it is our team…….not Charlotte’s or anyone elses……..just our team. When they win, it feels like Raleigh wins…….I like that. Us against the world.

I live in eastern NC near the coast, the marketing is NON-EXISTENT here. Without Direct TV and “Center Ice” we would surely miss a TON of games. It’s not reasonable for us to buy season tics being 2 1/2 hours away, as we would miss the weeknight games. There is one AM radio station that does have Hurricane coverage, often times we can’t even get the station in clearly enough to hear it. We spend some time in and around Raleigh as we have family there and pretty much everywhere you go you can find Hurricanes merchandise, schedules etc. why couldn’t they branch that out to other parts of the state? Why can they work a better broadcasting deal for TV & radio? Why can’t they give tickets to the local radio stations for giveaways? Why don’t they market a “pick your own games” mini-season ticket plan where you could pick and pay for 10 or so games of your choice? Initially, of course this would be a HUGE expense, but it would certainly pay off in the long run. I love wearing my “Canes Country” T-shirt around town each time I have at least 5 people ask me “what’s that”? Gives me a good excuse to talk some hockey! You wouldn’t believe how many people don’t even know we have a hockey team? We try to bring some “new to hockey” people to games with us each season and usually after that they are “hooked” but we can’t do ALL the marketing here, LOL!!! If not for Canes Country I would truly be in the dark about the Canes, Thank you for all that you do for the fans and the team!!!! :)

more a symptom of the poor NHL deal they made with the major TV/media outlets?

Hell, I can get a Cub’s game on WGN over regular cable (but why would I ever want to do that) or even worse, the Braves on TnT or TBS. I think even WRAL carries Charlotte Bobcat games.

Again are those weaknesses in the media relations unit of the Hurricanes or a wider issue of just how poorly the NHL has been able to market itself with the major media?

I tried to post to the responses from the “Fromthe rink” guy on the thread about Basille(sp?) and moving a team from the SW back to “hockey country” and IMNSHO opinion, making the NHL smaller and swinging back to regional instead of growing.

Am I banned from that thread or is that thread shut down for further comments?

What is this tailgating business all about? I’ve heard it mentioned a few times, for instance the commentary on my EA Sports NHL 09 game will mention it at least every other game (when playing as the canes of course!)

Also, regarding the coverage out of state, and in this case out of the country, I think canes.com do a good job of providing game to game news updates and their online radio coverage of the live game is ace… but, as jenniwa30 mentioned, without the fantastic work done on this blog I really wouldn’t have much clue about the more in detail stuff… so I salute you Canes Country!! =D

I’ve thought quite a bit about how to market this team to people outside the Triangle since I spend the majority of my year living in SC. Despite being the Carolina Hurricanes, Caniacs get fewer and farther between outside the Triangle not to mention they are almost nonexistent in South Carolina. Most hands-on advertising (player appearances for example) are more feasible here in the Triangle and I understand that, but that shouldn’t mean that it never happens outside the Triangle. For example, have elementary schools across the state (or at least in more than the three counties) sign up to participate in a food drive or a reading contest (since they already have the PUBAR program). The school that reads/raises the most wins a player visit; the player can come read a book to each grade, or come with the people to pick up the food and do some handshakes, autographs, and photos. My favorite prize personally is having them come and have recess or gym class with the individual class that raises the most. I’m promising you those kids will not forget that visit and their parents (the ones with the money for tickets) will hear about it. Send a local camera crew to cover it and you’ve got essentially free publicity in an area that was largely unaware of the Hurricanes.

That’s another thing that I think the Canes could work on-being more public with their charity works. I know that they do a lot of things for the community (some individually and some with the team), but unless you are already a Canes’ fan you don’t hear about it. Other teams in the league seem to have a community outreach clip on the local news weekly and this seems like a great marketing opportunity they’re not taking advantage of. I only have one more I promise! I know some teams make a semi-regular TV show with some of the players and broadcast it on the station that does their games. The one that comes to mind is the Pens-they have two guys show up, answer questions from the host and then answer questions from the audience of season ticket holders. In between they do a recap of the games since the last episode and if anything notable has happened (trades, charity, player milestones, etc). It’s generally pretty relaxed and the questions are about them as people which forces them to give real answers rather than the canned responses we so often hear during postgame quotes. I don’t know how FSN would feel about broadcasting an extra half hour of Hurricanes’ programming or if it’s already been talked about and shot down, but it would be a great platform to advertise all the good things that have happened lately (and cater to season ticket holders), especially if it was on the air throughout the state. OK I’m done-sorry this is so long.

I think the easiest way to market a team is to develop the sport in new areas first. For instance, Boone, NC is a winter money maker with all the skiing and snowboarding mountains that are here but not one, not a single darn one, offers an indoor ice rink. It shocked me to find this out when moving here and I am determined to start one myself or get someone to help me start one in the area. I know it would succeed and do very well here.

I’m sure Boone is not the only area where this type of thing could happen. Spreading the sport will help people get to know it better, which will help bring people to Raleigh and viewers to TV.

And there is almost no marketing here. We’re the third largest metro area in the state and there is no billboard advertising, radio advertising, print advertising or TV advertising outside of FSN.

If the Canes want to move in a more positive direction attendance and revenue wise it would be in their best interest to market hockey in the triad and other areas. I personally have been responsible for 2 people purchasing season ticket plans and tens of people seeing games solely by word of mouth and pushing how affordable it is. The Canes could do the same outside of the triangle.

Furthermore, my second idea I think is quite ingenious. We all know alot of the attendance at Canes games comes from transplants. It’s a known fact, so why not turn it into a marketing scheme. What about a jersey buyback… you bring your Rangers/Bruins/Devils etc jersey to ‘The Eye’ and get 50% off a new Hurricane’s jersey. Call it the ‘convert a Caniac’ program or something like that. As a kicker, the Hurricanes could send the collected jerseys up north as a donation to the boys are girls club or another charity. It puts more Cane’s jerseys in the stands, might sway a few fans, move some mechandise and be a great charity event. I think it works on every level.

What about moving the Pre-Season Games elsewhere in the state. It’s not the most attractive hockey, but it might help. Have a game in Charlotte and one in Greensboro. Maybe rotate to some smaller arena’s around the state. You could also move a regular season game to one of those areas, but I don’t think the Canes would do that.

I could go on forever on this, but I’ll try to keep it short.

First, the Canes need to keep it up with making sure as many games as possible are broadcast. Though they also need to realize that Center Ice is not available to every fan because many of the other cable tv companies do not offer it (like Suddenlink). The best way, regardless, is for it to be available on a more widely accessed station like FSS is. The most disappointing thing I’ve found with this is that not every away game is televised. That should be a priority.

The Cool Bars are another great way of getting people to watch the games without going to them, but they need to expand beyond just the Raleigh area and look to give some support to other local sports bars that show the Canes games. All it would really take is printing up some posters or something like that so that the sports bars can put them up.

Radio. The coverage absolutely sucks. We’re supposed to have some games on the radio here in Greenville. Some games. Ha! They hardly have any, and even when they do the station tends to not come in. They need to find more and better stations to carry the games, and really should have every single game on the radio. Not just a select few.

News coverage. The Canes need to get a good PR team to go around to the different tv stations, radio stations, and whoever else might be willing to talk about the Canes and do a little educational program so the sports anchors know not only that there is a team called the Carolina Hurricanes down the road, but also a little about the sport of hockey so they have an idea what they are talking about when they show a clip. Thankfully things have improved on Canes coverage for the local station I watch, but it’s been a slow and painful process to watch, and every station should have good news coverage of the Canes.

Some promotions for people who live outside the Raleigh area would be huge. Go around to other towns and give tickets away, or hold some sort of event where people can buy tickets for a game at a discount or something. The promotion for buying those cheap seats the day of the game are great for people in Raleigh, but if you have to drive 2 hrs there and back not knowing that you can get one doesn’t exactly help. Work with some travel companies to set up bus trips from different cities around the state to go see a game, like they do for football games.

Expand community events to places outside the Raleigh area. We’ve got an ice rink here in Greenville now with a lot of youth and adult rec hockey going on. Send over a couple of players, or Stormy and the Storm Squad or something, and bring in the media to make a big splash.

Merchandise. As others have said, it would be great to be able to find Canes stuff outside of Raleigh more. You’re more likely to find Atlanta Braves or Washington Redskins stuff around here than a pro sports team that is only 2 hrs away. It’s not like there needs to be huge sections of Canes gear in every store you go to, but I don’t think it’s too much to expect to see at least one generic red Canes t-shirt in every Belks, Penny’s, etc. Saying that there’s no interest isn’t an excuse, either, because whenever any stores get anything Canes related around here they tend to sell out pretty quickly. So there is demand.

A lot of the stuff they could do doesn’t require them spending a lot of money. Just making the organization available and taking a little time to reach out.

2 things

1 – it’s obvious that many of the readers here are from outside the area and rely on Canes Country (and the internet in general) to keep up with the team. I’m thinking this always current and engaging connection to the team and sharing your enthusiasm with other excited fans makes you’all more likely to gladly spend the money to buy tickets, buy merchandise and other money-making opportunities for the Hurricanes. Also increasing TV ratings.

My response: the Canes organization needs to be more open and supportive to Bubba, Cory and other bloggers (none better than these 2) and use them to build ties and fanbase outside the Triangle. A Facebook page is well and good (and that’s generous for the “weak” Canes page I’ve seen), but the media relations need to open the doors more and endorse the efforts and opportunities they have ready-made here. (I think an allowance for Bubba and Cory to see a few key away games would be well advised)

2 – As much as an AHL affiliate in Charlotte would be a dream come true, I can see that it may not be feasible. Looking elsewhere, I am warming up to the Norfolk possiblity (link to Norfolk Admirals site) . According to google maps it’s a 3 1/4 hour drive from the RBC center. While it won’t help with the South Carolina Caniacs, might help us jump across statelines into Southern VA. I know from my boys that there is a lot of youth hockey in Richmond and the Hampton Roads area and I’m not sure they consider the Caps their home team (anymore than they feel like they’re part of the DC Beltline crowd). Norfolk is the network TV source and airport of choice for many in the upper OBX and NE Carolina as well. It wouldn’t help with Wilmington, but IMHO I think that could work to develop a larger fanbase in the mid-Atlantic region. Albany is useless in this regard.

Do we even have an ECHL affilitate? The Caps do, in Charleston SC, I thought. Can we have one too – the Checkers the obvious choice?

FWIW – the Admirals are affiliated with Tampa Bay. I can see that they might favor a Karmanos connection over the TB mess. I just saw a blog post from March on their site about Wade Brookbank.

**that would be Everblades (too corny)

I see a couple of brand new members. Welcome and thanks for your comments!

To everyone, thank you for the input, kudos, ideas, and kind words.

Also, I’m happy some of you are enjoying your T-Shirts! I will have to get that info back out so other people can see how to get them .

The good news is that the Canes are aware that they need to improve the way they market the team outside the immediate area, but the bad news is, it’s easier said than done. For instance, it’s probably very expensive to make sure that a radio broadcast can reach everyone in the state. (other than online).

With limited marketing dollars, they need to make sure they get the most bang for the buck and difficult choices need to be made.

I really like the idea of a preseason game or at the very least, a scrimmage outside the local market. I think the Canes Brass would be surprised of the interest. Plus, local Caniacs have no trouble traveling for special events.

I know that some folk on Edwards Mill Road keep up this blog, but I’m not sure they read every comment. If you have an idea you want to make sure the right people see, you should send it to the Community Relations Department.

communityrelations@carolinahurricanes.com.

I live in Greenville and love the Hurricanes. I know tons of people who would rather go to a Hurricanes game or watch it on Fox sports Carolina, than go to an ECU football game that is on the same night. That is saying a lot considering every one here is nuts for the Pirates. GO CANES!!

I was just driving in downtown Raleigh and they have a somewhat new parking deck that has a big, ugly, blank, concrete wall. I think it would be nice to maybe paint a large Staal or Ward picture (since they are the faces of our franchise) on it, showing Raleigh support for the team. Sort of how colleges put Heisman candidates on buildings in large cities.

Also, it might be worth noting that the Triangle TV market is a good bit bigger than Buffalo’s as it pertains to broadcast revenue and whatnot.

Finally, I love the idea of having the AHL (or even the ECHL) affiliate close by, both to enhance fan interest and to help logistical issues like scouting and callup travel. However, I think plopping an AHL team in Charlotte might be tough. That’s a long-standing ECHL market. I propose Greensboro might not be a bad fit. There’s very little here in terms of sports outside of baseball season in the summer, and the Coliseum is a great facility that doesn’t really see a ton of use outside of basketball tournaments in March.

The Norfolk idea, too, is interesting. It is good to have your “home base” strong in fan support, but, to be honest, it doesn’t matter which direction that base is growing in. Why not take some of the southern Virginia hockey fans (…if there are any) and make sure that doesn’t become any more of a Capitals hotbed than it is?

I live west of Asheville and make the trip to Raleigh to visit friends and see a game when I can: 2-3 times a year. Watch every game on FSN, though.\
Asheville has had a troubled history with hockey. There’s a good fanbase but the city just isn’t behind it. Eventually when they finally build a new arena they’ll likely get a minor-pro team again.