http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/an-expanded-direct-to-consumer-portfolio-tighter-data-collection-practices-new-relational-database-400124/1
Target Marketing
Cover Story : The National Hockey League's Power Play
An expanded direct-to-consumer portfolio, tighter data collection practices and a new relational database
Sports marketers measure the engagement of their customers in terms of their "avidity." Avid fans are those who have an emotional connection to the game—people whose interest, enthusiasm and passion for the product defy the norm. From a marketing standpoint, these individuals are dream customers because they are eager consumers of all things associated with the sport. But, there is a catch.
Having customers clamoring for deeper and more frequent interactions with a brand is a challenge most organizations would love to have, but a challenge nonetheless. How do marketers identify these individuals within a sea of millions? How do they discern hard-core customers' interests and speak directly to them? And, importantly, how do they continually raise the bar for engagement, keeping pace with these dedicated customers' voracious appetites for consumption?
These are just a few of the questions the National Hockey League grappled with during the last two years. "We have a mantra—activating the avid fans—and it's about driving customer behavior and incremental revenue by knowing, serving, growing and deepening fan relationships," says Perry Cooper, the NHL's senior vice president of digital/direct marketing and fan strategy.
Initiated by Chief Operating Officer John Collins when he joined the NHL in 2006, the "activating the avid fans" strategy seeks to maximize loyalty and engagement, and increase the league's share of entertainment dollars. And direct marketing is critical to its success. Accordingly, the NHL has undertaken a number of initiatives to help deliver more engaging and relevant marketing—the kind that scores points with avid fans.
Understanding the Avid Fan
Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon once said, "A rabid sports fan is one that boos a TV set." But this isn't the only behavior that sets avid ice hockey fans apart.
NHL data shows that avid fans attend lots of games, consume hockey through multiple media and are inclined to use high-tech products, such as broadband and high-definition television. They demonstrate a higher incidence of fantasy league involvement and are the biggest spenders of all hockey fans. Predominantly male, the mean age of avid fans is 39. About half have families with children.
When it comes to marketing, Cooper describes avid NHL fans as "Web-centric," but not necessarily Web-exclusive. "There is still a great mass that likes to look at paper—that communicates through instigation devices like direct mail, a catalog or a postcard," he says.
The NHL tracks trends and behaviors that connote fan avidity. It augments offline data with data from its Web site, including frequency of visits to NHL.com, time spent on the site and time spent viewing video.
Cooper says a leading indicator of avidity is multisource activity. For example, a fan who subscribes to an NHL newsletter, purchases one of the league's pay-per-view packages and participates in a fantasy league is more likely to be an avid fan than an individual who displays just one of these behaviors.
At last count, the NHL had 20 million avid fans: 13 million in the United States and 7 million in Canada. That represents more than a third of the league's 53 million fans throughout North America.
On the Ice, and Beyond
The NHL interacts with fans through a robust direct-to-consumer portfolio, which it recently expanded to include new channels and partners.
There's Shop.NHL.com, which sells jerseys, T-shirts and other gear online and via catalogs. Fans also can make online purchases from NHL Auctions, a virtual marketplace of ice hockey collectibles, and the recently unveiled NHL Picture Shop, which sells photos from regular season games, the Stanley Cup playoffs and other events.
The NHL offers two products that connect fans with out-of market games: GameCenterLive, which is delivered by streaming video, and NHL Center Ice, a pay-per-view product distributed through the league's television providers.
This past September, the NHL launched a new fantasy product in partnership with Yahoo Sports. Finally, it markets dozens of team- and NHL-branded affinity credit cards with Bank of America and Scotiabank.
Working on the Fundamentals
To successfully "activate" avid fans, engaging them more frequently and putting forth a wider array of products for them to consume, the NHL knew it had to raise the bar for its database marketing.
Its ultimate goal was to build a relational database that would replace internal data silos and offer a 360-degree view of customers. However, before it could embark on such an ambitious undertaking, it needed to ensure it had a sufficient quantity—and quality—of customer information.
Introducing new direct-to-consumer products, such as the NHL Picture Shop, provided additional data sources. "All of these [businesses] were conduits to grow scale," Cooper explains. "The last thing I wanted to do was to say, ‘We need a database today,' when there really wasn't that much to put in it."
The NHL also conducted an audit of how it collected fan info to identify inefficiencies and address them.
The audit examined everything from online checkout to e-mail opt-in language and marketing partner relationships. An area of focus was "favorite team," a data point the NHL deems essential to achieve relevance.
Based on the audit findings, the league resolved many friction points. With "favorite team," for example, it added language to registration forms telling customers why it collects this information. And it changed the field's positioning on forms to make it more prominent. "It's not mandatory, but it's in a flow of mandatory data," observes Cooper.
The audit also prompted the NHL to introduce single sign-on with the September relaunch of NHL.com. Single sign-on works across various engagement vehicles, including the NHL's newsletter, customized Web pages, social media network and GameCenterLive.
On a nightly basis, the NHL integrates data collected through single sign-on into its fan database. This helps the league grow its database and enhance its targeting capabilities, Cooper says.
Raising Its Game
With a solid foundation in place, the NHL turned its attention to understanding what avid fans want and then delivering it. Its game plan was two-pronged.
First, it built its long-awaited relational database. By integrating databases for all of its products, it gained the ability to identify multisource fans and to run models to determine the best way to market to them.
"We know, for the first time, how many people are on multiple sources and what the different profiles are within those different buckets of a three- or four-source person," notes Cooper.
The NHL worked with a third-party vendor that provided proprietary applications for segmentation, reporting and analytics. Cooper says the league evaluated many different options. But the decision was relatively easy because the NHL's database marketers knew exactly what was needed.
"You don't have to buy the Porsche when the dependable Dodge will do everything you really need it to do," says Cooper.
Launched in October 2007, the relational database took approximately five months to build from approval to utility.
The second prong in the NHL's game plan was the relaunch this past September of NHL.com, incorporating single sign-on and a new design intended to better attract and engage avid fans. Director of Corporate Communications Mike DiLorenzo says the NHL moved from a Web site populated with content to one that is heavily programmed and rich in video.
The new NHL.com delivers more relevant fan experiences using geotracking according to IP addresses and user profiles based on demonstrated preferences, DiLorenzo adds.
As the new site generates more user data, Cooper expects the NHL's Web marketing to become increasingly sophisticated. "People will start to show their preferences and put themselves into naturally segmented buckets," he explains. "Then we'll begin to serve content dynamically based on these groupings."
Hitting the Mark
Like all consumers, avid hockey fans are complex individuals, motivated to purchase by a unique combination of factors. "Relevance is not just about one thing," Cooper explains. "It's about behavior that speaks to category affinity, that speaks to channel affinity and that also speaks to team affinity."
The ability to view fans holistically through a relational database adds yet another dimension—achieving a relevant frequency and intensity of marketing communications. "Certainly, for those that are on multiple sources, you want to have a more aggressive strategy. Those who are on fewer, you want to just put your toe in the water and then be as customized as you can," Cooper says.
Striking a balance that resonates with each avid fan—one that entices him to become even more invested in the league—is no small feat. For now, Cooper measures success as much by what the NHL is able to do as by actual marketing metrics.
"The fact that we're in a model where we can actually measure and define our base is success unto itself," he says.
But as it gets farther into the process, the NHL will track its progress in achieving targets for favorite team penetration rate, increases in multiple-source fans, ROI for direct-to-consumer properties and total database growth, among others.
"We have 20 million avid fans in North America. Our goal is to possess at least half of them in the next three years and all of the information that goes with them," says Cooper. "This isn't nearly the tip of the iceberg."
Amy Syracuse is a London-based freelance writer, who profiled the Maryland Food Bank in the August 2008 issue. Read the article here.
Having customers clamoring for deeper and more frequent interactions with a brand is a challenge most organizations would love to have, but a challenge nonetheless. How do marketers identify these individuals within a sea of millions? How do they discern hard-core customers' interests and speak directly to them? And, importantly, how do they continually raise the bar for engagement, keeping pace with these dedicated customers' voracious appetites for consumption?
These are just a few of the questions the National Hockey League grappled with during the last two years. "We have a mantra—activating the avid fans—and it's about driving customer behavior and incremental revenue by knowing, serving, growing and deepening fan relationships," says Perry Cooper, the NHL's senior vice president of digital/direct marketing and fan strategy.
Initiated by Chief Operating Officer John Collins when he joined the NHL in 2006, the "activating the avid fans" strategy seeks to maximize loyalty and engagement, and increase the league's share of entertainment dollars. And direct marketing is critical to its success. Accordingly, the NHL has undertaken a number of initiatives to help deliver more engaging and relevant marketing—the kind that scores points with avid fans.
Understanding the Avid Fan
Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon once said, "A rabid sports fan is one that boos a TV set." But this isn't the only behavior that sets avid ice hockey fans apart.
NHL data shows that avid fans attend lots of games, consume hockey through multiple media and are inclined to use high-tech products, such as broadband and high-definition television. They demonstrate a higher incidence of fantasy league involvement and are the biggest spenders of all hockey fans. Predominantly male, the mean age of avid fans is 39. About half have families with children.
When it comes to marketing, Cooper describes avid NHL fans as "Web-centric," but not necessarily Web-exclusive. "There is still a great mass that likes to look at paper—that communicates through instigation devices like direct mail, a catalog or a postcard," he says.
The NHL tracks trends and behaviors that connote fan avidity. It augments offline data with data from its Web site, including frequency of visits to NHL.com, time spent on the site and time spent viewing video.
Cooper says a leading indicator of avidity is multisource activity. For example, a fan who subscribes to an NHL newsletter, purchases one of the league's pay-per-view packages and participates in a fantasy league is more likely to be an avid fan than an individual who displays just one of these behaviors.
At last count, the NHL had 20 million avid fans: 13 million in the United States and 7 million in Canada. That represents more than a third of the league's 53 million fans throughout North America.
On the Ice, and Beyond
The NHL interacts with fans through a robust direct-to-consumer portfolio, which it recently expanded to include new channels and partners.
There's Shop.NHL.com, which sells jerseys, T-shirts and other gear online and via catalogs. Fans also can make online purchases from NHL Auctions, a virtual marketplace of ice hockey collectibles, and the recently unveiled NHL Picture Shop, which sells photos from regular season games, the Stanley Cup playoffs and other events.
The NHL offers two products that connect fans with out-of market games: GameCenterLive, which is delivered by streaming video, and NHL Center Ice, a pay-per-view product distributed through the league's television providers.
This past September, the NHL launched a new fantasy product in partnership with Yahoo Sports. Finally, it markets dozens of team- and NHL-branded affinity credit cards with Bank of America and Scotiabank.
Working on the Fundamentals
To successfully "activate" avid fans, engaging them more frequently and putting forth a wider array of products for them to consume, the NHL knew it had to raise the bar for its database marketing.
Its ultimate goal was to build a relational database that would replace internal data silos and offer a 360-degree view of customers. However, before it could embark on such an ambitious undertaking, it needed to ensure it had a sufficient quantity—and quality—of customer information.
Introducing new direct-to-consumer products, such as the NHL Picture Shop, provided additional data sources. "All of these [businesses] were conduits to grow scale," Cooper explains. "The last thing I wanted to do was to say, ‘We need a database today,' when there really wasn't that much to put in it."
The NHL also conducted an audit of how it collected fan info to identify inefficiencies and address them.
The audit examined everything from online checkout to e-mail opt-in language and marketing partner relationships. An area of focus was "favorite team," a data point the NHL deems essential to achieve relevance.
Based on the audit findings, the league resolved many friction points. With "favorite team," for example, it added language to registration forms telling customers why it collects this information. And it changed the field's positioning on forms to make it more prominent. "It's not mandatory, but it's in a flow of mandatory data," observes Cooper.
The audit also prompted the NHL to introduce single sign-on with the September relaunch of NHL.com. Single sign-on works across various engagement vehicles, including the NHL's newsletter, customized Web pages, social media network and GameCenterLive.
On a nightly basis, the NHL integrates data collected through single sign-on into its fan database. This helps the league grow its database and enhance its targeting capabilities, Cooper says.
Raising Its Game
With a solid foundation in place, the NHL turned its attention to understanding what avid fans want and then delivering it. Its game plan was two-pronged.
First, it built its long-awaited relational database. By integrating databases for all of its products, it gained the ability to identify multisource fans and to run models to determine the best way to market to them.
"We know, for the first time, how many people are on multiple sources and what the different profiles are within those different buckets of a three- or four-source person," notes Cooper.
The NHL worked with a third-party vendor that provided proprietary applications for segmentation, reporting and analytics. Cooper says the league evaluated many different options. But the decision was relatively easy because the NHL's database marketers knew exactly what was needed.
"You don't have to buy the Porsche when the dependable Dodge will do everything you really need it to do," says Cooper.
Launched in October 2007, the relational database took approximately five months to build from approval to utility.
The second prong in the NHL's game plan was the relaunch this past September of NHL.com, incorporating single sign-on and a new design intended to better attract and engage avid fans. Director of Corporate Communications Mike DiLorenzo says the NHL moved from a Web site populated with content to one that is heavily programmed and rich in video.
The new NHL.com delivers more relevant fan experiences using geotracking according to IP addresses and user profiles based on demonstrated preferences, DiLorenzo adds.
As the new site generates more user data, Cooper expects the NHL's Web marketing to become increasingly sophisticated. "People will start to show their preferences and put themselves into naturally segmented buckets," he explains. "Then we'll begin to serve content dynamically based on these groupings."
Hitting the Mark
Like all consumers, avid hockey fans are complex individuals, motivated to purchase by a unique combination of factors. "Relevance is not just about one thing," Cooper explains. "It's about behavior that speaks to category affinity, that speaks to channel affinity and that also speaks to team affinity."
The ability to view fans holistically through a relational database adds yet another dimension—achieving a relevant frequency and intensity of marketing communications. "Certainly, for those that are on multiple sources, you want to have a more aggressive strategy. Those who are on fewer, you want to just put your toe in the water and then be as customized as you can," Cooper says.
Striking a balance that resonates with each avid fan—one that entices him to become even more invested in the league—is no small feat. For now, Cooper measures success as much by what the NHL is able to do as by actual marketing metrics.
"The fact that we're in a model where we can actually measure and define our base is success unto itself," he says.
But as it gets farther into the process, the NHL will track its progress in achieving targets for favorite team penetration rate, increases in multiple-source fans, ROI for direct-to-consumer properties and total database growth, among others.
"We have 20 million avid fans in North America. Our goal is to possess at least half of them in the next three years and all of the information that goes with them," says Cooper. "This isn't nearly the tip of the iceberg."
Amy Syracuse is a London-based freelance writer, who profiled the Maryland Food Bank in the August 2008 issue. Read the article here.