With the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs finally here, the Flyers, who swept their way to the top seed in the east, have been presented with another opportunity under unprecedented circumstances. In the latest episode of “SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead,” our Bill King discussed the Flyers’ approach to building fan awareness, conversations with sponsors and changes to merchandising with the team’s Chief Business Officer, Mike Shane.
On the challenge of building fan awareness after the break and the organization’s approach to doing so:
Shane: We had to get our fans back to where they were in March, when the team had won nine of 10 and every game was can’t miss, appointment viewing. Along the way, I’ve likened it to your favorite television show that finishes with this massive cliffhanger, and then as the next season approaches all efforts go into keeping the conversation brewing during the down time, promoting the heck out of the season premiere … and then finally reinvigorating all those emotions that fans had and are ready to live again. Throughout the pause we were extremely active on social media. We used the opportunity to produce a lot of player driven content, a lot of humanizing stories that showed what they were doing during this time. We spent time spotlighting the heroes in our community, and of course a lot of Gritty content that plays very well with our casual fan base.
On the approach to conversations with sponsors during the shutdown:
Shane: We approached it like we approached the business in general, and that is no two partners are alike. No two partners’ objectives are alike, and their business situations (are different). It really had to be a two-way conversation. “Here’s where the league is going. Here’s where the team is going. Here are the things that we are building out. What works for you in your current situation?” Some partners, they really do value that in arena experience, and we’re going to be working with them next year, but a lot of them recognize the opportunity that the playoffs bring with them and the pent up demand for sports that we as a nation have. With every update from the league as far as what the game production was going to be, sponsors became more confident in the product.
On merchandise as the primary revenue stream in a spectator-less environment:
Shane: It started with a really fun playoff mantra, which is “Anytime, Anywhere.” It’s really nice when a slogan, a tag line, fits the team that is playing. It’s also really nice when it fits the city, but when it captures both it’s really a home run. That’s what we’ve got with “Anytime, Anywhere.” The players have made it clear it doesn’t matter where we’re playing. It doesn’t matter where the games are. They’re in it for the right reasons. They’re in it to win, and the fans are feeling the same way. … 90 percent of what we created were t-shirts. When you look at a hockey fan’s wardrobe, they’ve got a lot of sweatshirts. They’ve got hoodies and parkas and rain gear, but they don’t have that summertime gear. We wanted to have that grassroots marketing opportunity of people walking around town in this gear.
