10. Summary
Reach people ages 13-21
Promote the game of hockey and
have Bauer benefit
Use YouTube for advertisement like
videos and promote them using
Facebook and Twitter
Budget of 5,000,000
Hinweis der Redaktion
Hello everyone, my name is Riley Enright. I am a junior advertising management major at Michigan State. The company that I chose to cover is Bauer, and they are one of the leading hockey equipment providers in the world.
Bauer was founded in 1927 in Kitchener, Ontario. Up until the 1990’s they primarily sold hockey skates. When they acquired Cooper Hockey they started making equipment like sticks and pads. In 1994, Bauer’s parent company Canstar became a subsidiary of Nike. From 2005 to 2008, Bauer started to release products under the name Nike Bauer, and this was the first time Nike had ever used a partner brand name on a product. After 2008Nike sold the company to investors Roustan, Inc. and Kohlberg & Co. and released products again as Bauer. In 2011 the company went public on the Canadian Stock Exchange.
The target market I want to reach is teens and young adults, so people between the ages of 13 and 21. The reason I chose this specific target market is because of their prevalence on the internet and on social media. Teens and young adults spend more time on Facebook and Twitter than the average age group, this is important because they have the power to make a message go viral. A big reason why I want to reach people at a younger age is because hockey players tend to be very brand loyal. I grew up playing hockey, and once I found the brand of stick or equipment I liked, I continued to buy it for years after.
The sport of hockey has taken on a bunch of stereotypes. A lot of people think that it is too expensive and that it is only played by Canadians and people from cold weather states. Not to say that these aren’t true, hockey is more popular in the north and playing organized hockey can be pricey, but this shouldn't’ stop people from playing the game. The goal of the campaignis to promote the game of hockey as a whole, whileattachingBauer’sname to the message. If the message goes viral and issuccessful, the game of hockey shouldbecomepopular in traditionally non-hockey areas.
The tactics that I think are the best to use are Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook. The goal of this campaign is to get a very strong message across. I want everyone to know that anyone can play hockey. Considering that there is a lack of TV advertising for hockey equipment companies, I feel using YouTube videos will be a good way to get the message across. A series of videos that show that hockey can be played in many different ways by many different people, and then having them using Bauer equipment will benefit the company and the game. These videos could be shared on Facebook and Twitter and could end the hashtag #AnyoneCanPlayHockey
The most effective way to sell the game of hockey and Bauer is to show it being played. I think videos showing hockey being played in many different ways will appeal to people all over the nation. One could be play in a run down area with people only use old sticks and a couple of garbage cans. Another could be played on Ice like it is normally portrayed. All of these ads could end with the Bauer logo and could have a slogan that says something along the lines of “Anyone Can Play Hockey.”
Twitter will play a large role in the spreading of the YouTube videos. A big thing will be the Bauer account tweeting a statement, linking the video and then ending it with the hashtag #AnyoneCanPlayHockey. If the hashtag gets enough action it could potentially become a trending topic. This will cause a lot of random people to check out the videos and then they could potentially become interest in the game. Another tactic that could be big is the use of sponsored players tweeting about the videos.
I intend for Facebook to have a similar effect as Twitter. I want it to make the message to go viral. Nowadays Facebook has hashtags just like twitter does. The Bauer page could post the video on their page and have people comment on the video and use the #AnyoneCanPlayHockeyhashtag. This will create dialogue about the products and that way hockey fans and non hockey fans can communicate.
I would want the campaign to last for a long time. Accomplishing the goal of growing the game of hockey isn’t something that can be done over a month or two. I believe it will take around 9 months with a single campaign to get the message to spread and be effective. Based on the research I did, it will cost around $48,000 a month for a national campaign like this. I anticipate it could cost a bit more considering the complexity of the Youtube advertisements. My estimate is that the whole campaign will cost around $5,000,000
In summary, I want to change themindset about hockey through my digital campaign. I want to grow the game as a whole, which in turn will grow Bauer. The #AnyoneCanPlay campaign will be featured on Twitter and Facebook and with the intent to make Bauer’s Youtube videos go viral. It is going to be a big campaign and will last 9 months, costing approximately $5,000,000