Pens Go Mobile

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126527


As many of you know, the Pittsburgh Penguins, of the National Hockey League, were a pretty bad team for quite some time. So bad, in fact, that team's lack of popularity and ticket sales almost drove them from their home town. This Advertising Age article shows how they turned to mobile messaging and a new fan base in order to fill the seats.

"Faced with persistently unsold tickets and a bevy of would-be attendees priced out of the action at area colleges, the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006 started sending news of available, severely discounted seats to college kids on the mornings of home games. The messages noted how many tickets were unsold, letting students know if they needed to camp out all day to get one of a few available, or if tickets were ample enough that they'd be available at the booth just before the puck was dropped. "

"Jeremy Zimmer, the team's director of new media, said the promotion helped fill otherwise empty seats and strengthened the Penguins' bond with students it hopes will grow up to become season-ticket holders. "We want to engage them while they're young, and get them excited about the team early," he said. "This was a great way to do that.""

This new marketing scheme, indeed, did a great job engaging the college-aged market and helped fill the arena's empty seats. With the help of new and creative media uses, back-to back trips to the playoffs, and two of the brightest young stars hockey has to offer, the Penguins have sold out all of their games for almost two straight seasons and have successfully raised enough funding to build a new arena and remain in Pittsburgh. Not to mention, they have a new and ravenous fan base that has the entire city buzzing about hockey for the first time since the 1990s, when Mario Lemieux led the team to two Stanley Cup Championships.

However, this string of consecutive sellouts has left most of the college-aged fan base, that the Penguins had just worked so hard to attract, unable to afford tickets. "So the team tapped mobile agency Vibes Media to run a series of contests and giveaways via cellphone. In one, it promised to give away a puck autographed by Mr. [Sidney] Crosby on the young star's 21st birthday. Messages went out to 2,000 subscribers, and 1,800 replied for a shot at the signed puck within the first hour. "That response shows that we're tapping a fan base that's just rabid," said Michael Cahan, Vibes' director-sports and media."

"The Penguins also offered a mobile program aimed at its general fan base, sending team news alerts, including game recaps and each game's three stars (a nightly hockey honor awarded after most TV broadcasts end) to 20,000 fans this year, compared with 8,000 a year ago. The team has yet to tap the channel as a major new source of sponsorship revenue just yet, but that may be coming. Pizza Hut has sponsored some of the alerts and has also delivered free pizzas to fans camping out for a shot at text-promoted tickets. "

I think that this partnership between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vibes Media is one that worked out very well for both parties. From the team's standpoint, it helped save a struggling franchise and reunite it with a generation of hockey fans who had lost their passion for the game. Consequently, Vibes Media now has an impressive client and an even more endearing story to tell that will be sure to win them some new business in the future. As for right now, the city is happy, the agency is happy, the fans are happy and the team is happy. In order to put the finishing touches on this joyful partnership, the only thing left to do is to have the Penguins win the Stanley Cup!

LETS GO PENS!!!