Marketing in the News: NHL Seattle

I chose to write about the new NHL franchise awarded to Seattle. I have been following their bid to become the 32nd team in the National Hockey League since 2018. As a new team there is a lot of marketing the ownership group as to consider. There are a lot of behind the scenes decisions that take place before the team takes to the rink for the 2021/2022 season.

The first takeaway from this article are the potential names being considered for the new team in Seattle. Within each possible team name the article goes on to explain why a name would work and why it would not work. And Ultimately, the outlook each name being considered would as the official name. It seems so straightforward but picking the correct name would have a massive effect on other things such merchandise sales.

Among the challenges that the ownership group would have to overcome are public backlash from using the potential team Seattle Kraken. As Seattle radio host Dori Monson states “Do the powers that be not understand that we have a gigantic drug problem in Seattle? We have crack awash in the streets.” Furthermore, she goes on to suggest “What will our NHL team’s logo be? A guy lighting up a crack pipe?” I must agree with Monson on her point, I believe the use of Sockeye(s) would have a more meaningful connection to the Pacific Northwest. But with the use of Sockeye(s) comes another challenge, shortly after the team was founded in December of 2018 Jami Davenport, a best-selling romance novel author filed for the trademarks to the Seattle Sockeyes hockey name used in her books. In order to use this as the official team name now legal processes must be taken.

What made the marketing approach unique is that besides financing an entirely new stadium within the roof of the original KeyBank Arena beloved by locals, is that the ownership group is also participating in funding for creation of local rinks around the metro area. By doing this the team not only grows the brand but also grows the sport in the area.

I know it sounds cliché but if I were the brand/product manager, I would do the same thing. The team will have an appeal as a “Purple Cow” being a new professional sports team in town, regular Seattleites will buy tickets to see the team even if they are not initially interested in hockey. So, by taking the approach of targeting the hockey fans with initiatives like building hockey rinks around the Seattle area you creates a solid foundation to build a fan base.

The marketing solution was interesting because it resembled the diffusion of innovation we have been learning about in class. The team is targeting people that would be considered innovators and early adopters being hockey fans in the local Seattle metro area, as well as those in rural areas of Washington to spread the word of the new hockey team. I say this because I have not seen any
advertisements such as billboards or tv spots to make the brand known.

By using this article as the subject for this assignment, I got the chance to look further into the process of becoming a new sports team and share what might be overlooked by people that are not avid fanatics.

Link Seattle.. Sockeyes? Kraken? SeaLions?
Team Link: NHL Seattle