Your client
cutting up on the ice
Minor league hockey games attract families out for fun
By Diego Vasquez
Mar 22, 2010
Minor league baseball teams are known for their outrageous promotions, such as bobbing for onions night, dress like a baby night and nickel beer night.
In the cold winter months, when baseball is in hibernation, minor league hockey teams take up their mantle, giving advertisers a chance to reach an audience made up mostly of families by sponsoring these silly but fun contests.
Advertising at minor league games is much more affordable for marketers than advertising at the pro level. And more families attend these games because it's a lot cheaper than going to NHL contests.
The minor leagues are also much less stringent in their advertising guidelines than top-level sports leagues, meaning advertisers can get very creative.
Plus, some of the country's more than half-dozen minor hockey leagues have teams in major cities such as Chicago and Houston, creating a chance for a low-cost big-market buy.
To find out how to get your client at minor league hockey games, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertising to families at minor league hockey games.
Who
There are seven minor hockey leagues throughout the U.S. and Canada: the American Hockey League, ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League), Central Hockey League, International Hockey League, Southern Professional Hockey League, All American Hockey League and Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey.
The leagues handle their own advertising.
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The AHL is the biggest and the equivalent of Class AAA in baseball, acting as the NHL's second-tier league. The ECHL and Central Hockey are the next step down, and the others are independent leagues.
How it works
Advertisers at minor league hockey games have many of the same options that are available at the pro level, such as buying ads on the boards that surround the ice, on concourses and on the scoreboards.
But what makes advertising at minor league games unique is the leagues’ and teams’ eagerness to work with advertisers to create fun interactive promotions.
Each team does between 10 and 25 of these contests and giveaways per night, most during one of the two intermissions or short game stoppages. Pre- and postgame contests can also be arranged.
The promotions could be as basic as sponsoring a fan of the game, allowing one kid to watch the game from the home team’s bench. The sponsoring brand's name is featured on the scoreboard every time the lucky kid is shown, prompting other kids watching in the stands to sign up for the contest the next time.
Another popular minor league promotion is the chuck-a-puck contest. Sponsors hand out branded foam hockey pucks before the game. At intermission a target is set up on the ice. Fans throw their pucks onto the ice, and if their puck makes it onto the target, they get a prize.
A tire company could do this using mini foam tires, literally putting small versions of its product into potential customers' hands.
Advertisers can also run other promotions during stoppages in play, including trivia games, dance-offs and on-ice races.
Last year the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals ran a promotion called the Merkt’s Cheese Race, in which several fans dressed in costumes shaped like tubs of the company’s cheese spread.
The tubs race around the rink, mimicking the famed Sausage Race held at Milwaukee Brewers home games. Each racer represented a corresponding section of the arena, and the winner earned fans in his section a coupon for discounted cheese.
Advertising at minor league hockey games is typically used by local and regional advertisers, although a handful of national advertisers employ it, usually with teams based in the same city as the company’s headquarters.
Though in-game promotions are the best way to reach families, most minor league hockey teams also offer uniform advertising, allowing sponsors to place small patches on jerseys or decals on helmets. This is also something their NHL brethren do not allow.
Markets
The seven leagues have a presence in 90 markets.
This year the American Hockey League, the best known of the seven, has teams in Bridgeport and Hartford, Conn.; Lowell, Springfield and Worcester, Mass.; Manchester, N.H.; Portland, Maine; Providence, R.I.; Glens Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and Binghamton, N.Y.; Hershey and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Norfolk, Va.; Abbotsford, British Columbia; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario; Cleveland; Winnipeg; Chicago, Peoria and Rockford, Ill.; Milwaukee; and Houston, San Antonio and Cedar Park, Texas.
Next year the league will expand to Charlotte and Oklahoma City as well.
Other leagues have teams in larger cities such as Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Boise, Tulsa and Trenton, but their squads generally are concentrated in smaller markets.
ECHL has 20 markets, Central Hockey League has 15 markets, International Hockey League and Southern Professional Hockey League have seven markets, and All American Hockey League has four markets. Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey has seven markets, all in Quebec.
Numbers
Last season the 29 AHL teams attracted 5.93 million fans over the course of 1,160 regular season games, for an average of 5,115 per game. The Hershey Bears led the league with 8,987 fans per game, while the Lowell Devils were at the bottom of the league with 2,293 fans per game.
Last year the ECHL averaged 4,258 fans per game. The Stockton Thunder led the league with 6,218 fans per game, while the Johnstown Chiefs were at the bottom of the league with 2,212 fans per game.
The Central Hockey League averaged 3,808 fans per game. The Oklahoma City Blazers led the league with 6,508 fans per game, while the Amarillo Gorillas were at the bottom with 2,035 fans per game.
How it is measured
Game attendance is used to estimate impressions. Advertisers can also count how many promotional items or coupons are distributed.
A small percentage of games are televised (around 200 of more than 1,100 AHL games this season), and then TV ratings can be used to estimate impressions for things such as ads along the boards or on the ice.
What product categories do well
Frequent ad categories include local services, consumer packaged goods, financial services, restaurants, fast food, sporting goods, local TV/radio stations, beer and retail.
Demographics
AHL fans ages 18 and older who have attended a game are 42.5 percent female and 57.5 percent male, according to Scarborough Research.
Among those fans, 11.2 percent are ages 18-24, 23.5 percent are 25-34, 27.1 percent are 35-44, 22.3 percent are 45-54, 10.4 percent are 55-64 and 5.5 percent are 65-plus.
More than half (53.1 percent) have an annual household income over $75,000, with 19.1 percent between $50,000 and $74,000, 16.2 percent between $35,000 and $49,999, 6.7 percent between $25,000 and $34,999, and 4.9 percent below $25,000.
Making the buy
With artwork already approved, lead time is typically two weeks.
Pricing varies widely based on the extent of a campaign and what market it’s in.
For example, a small local company might spend a few thousand dollars for one night as a team’s presenting sponsor, while a season-long campaign in a larger market could cost $50,000 or more.
Who’s already at minor league hockey games
Recent minor league hockey advertisers include Liberty Tax Services, Merkt’s Cheese Spread, Burger King, Prudential, Bud Light, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Supercuts.
What they’re saying
“One of the most appealing things it can bring to the table is interactivity with sponsorship. Maybe you give away a product with a sponsor’s logo, or you can also do promotions during the game, like trivia or a dance contest. We sell experiences brought to you buy sponsor X.”–
Sean Lavoine, vice president of licensing and corporate sales at the American Hockey League
Web site info
American Hockey League
http://theahl.com
ECHL
http://www.echl.com
Central Hockey League
http://www.centralhockeyleague.com
International Hockey League
http://www.ihl-hockey.com
Southern Professional Hockey League
http://www.thesphl.com
All American Hockey League
http://www.aahlhockey.com
Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey
http://www.lnah.com
Federal Hockey League
http://thefederalhockeyleague.com
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