2. • It’s Red Wings playoff season. The
Red Wings, a team that’s part of the
Original Six, has hardcore fans
around the state that endlessly
support their team. We want these
fans to bolster awareness and
support for The Red Wings by
increasing apparel sales for the
team.
• Our target audience is 30- to 40-
year-old male hockey fans who live
in Michigan. They are very
dedicated to their team, and they
love to support them and wear Red
Wings jerseys and apparel,
especially during the playoff time of
year. The men in our target
audience use social media, namely
Instagram and Twitter.
Target Audience
3. The Campaign
The overall objective of the
campaign is to increase
apparel sales from the
official NHL Red Wings store
by using social media,
search engine marketing,
and Google AdWords. An
additional goal of the
campaign are to increase
social media interactions by
25%. A blogging platform
would not be beneficial for
our target audience. We
must increase organic
visibility for the Red Wings
apparel page, and these
strategies will drive traffic
to it.
The campaign centers around the fans
sending in their own pictures of Red
Wings apparel and utilizing those
pictures to entice people to buy their
own apparel. Utilizing fan photos will
make the campaign relatable for
potential consumers. The hashtag
#RocktheRed will be used on
Instagram and Twitter, social media
that our target audience uses. A
photo contest will occur during every
game; participants must post a photo
on either social media platform using
the hashtag and they must follow the
Red Wings account on that media. All
Red Wings social media will repost the
photo and enter the contestant in a
drawing to win 2 tickets to the final
playoff game. The contest increases
interaction with fans and makes them
feel a part of the brand and, by
extension, part of the team they love.
4. Social Media
The social media aspect of the campaign is also a beneficial form of
inbound marketing. People posting their photos on their own social
media is personalizing the brand to their followers and making it a
new kind of word-of-mouth marketing. Our target audience checks
their social media several times a day, and the strategy of initiating
social media conversations for people to see will help increase
awareness of Red Wings apparel.
5. Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing is an
important part of the campaign as
well. People will be searching
outside of social media for Red
Wings apparel. A Google AdWords
campaign will take place during the
playoff season, which lasts March
4th - April 11th. The keywords we
will use are: Detroit Red Wings, Red
Wings Jersey, and Hockey Apparel.
To better target Red Wings fans,
the adwords campaign will be
targeted to searches in Michigan
only.
6. Google Search Ad Examples
1)
DETROIT RED WINGS SHOP
-Official website for Detroit Red
Wings apparel
-The Detroit Red Wings shop is
currently featuring 2015 NHL
playoff apparel - special online
only deals before the first
playoff game!
-
http://shop.nhl.com/Detroit_Re
d_Wings_Gear
2)
DETROIT HOCKEY APPAREL
-Get all of the gear and apparel for
your favorite hockey team in one
online shop
-Special offers on vintage Red
Wings playoff jerseys - hurry, it
lasts until May 1st!
-
http://shop.nhl.com/Detroit_Red_
Wings_Gear
7. Google AdWords
• With a daily forecast of 5.12 clicks at a maximum cost
of $27 for 39 days (the length of the playoff season),
the estimated cost of the Google AdWords campaign is
$1,053. Using adwords increasing the visibility of the
Red Wings shop and increases the chances of people
purchasing from that website. Advertising the social
media contest on the Red Wings shop landing page will
inform buyers about their opportunity to wear the
apparel they purchase and have a chance to go to game
7 of the playoffs.
Google AdWords is the best way to reach people
through search engines - which is how people search for
most of their information now because of mobile phones
and tablets. It’s convenient and easy. Using Google Adwords
will allow the campaign to set a budget and use keywords that
the audience will search for to gain more visibility.
8. Google AdWords
Additional budgetary measures aside from the Google AdWords campaign
are the Red Wings social media controllers. For each of the 39 games, a
half an hour will be billed to choose the #RocktheRed picture of the night.
This digital marketing will cost $4,875 given that each hour of digital
marketing is $250/hour. The total budget for the campaign will be $5,928.
Increased sales from the campaign will justify the cost and boost profits for
the Red Wings and the NHL.
AdWords plan
9. In Summary
Overall, the digital marketing campaign for the Red Wings is
designed to increase sales for Red Wings apparel. Playoff season
is a period of immense pride for our target audience and they
love to show their pride by wearing Red Wings jerseys, t-shirts,
hats, and other apparel. We want to showcase our target
audience wearing their gear to inspire others to purchase their
own and show their team pride.