You can’t beat the drama and emotion in sports. The media coverage surrounding the drama makes it even more entertaining.
Since the Vancouver Canucks’ coach John Tortorella lost it going after Calgary Flames’ coach Bob Hartley on Hockey Night in Canada last weekend, it has been a field day for sports commentators and the water cooler topic for hockey fans.
Some say that as the bench boss and leader of team, the coach demonstrated intense passion. He had his players’ backs. Others feel it was a big sideshow that has no place in professional sports. The debate continues.
The league showed it was an activity they did not approve of. The coach is banished from working for the next 15 days which includes six hockey games.
Kudos to Vancouver’s local CBC-TV newsroom for its story, which I felt had the most refreshing observation about Tortorella. To quote commentator, Alistair Moes:
“It was like the end of the world. It would make sense for a three-year-old, but not so much for a 55-year-old. Look what happens when you have a temper tantrum. When you lose it, no one listens to what you have to say to them. They just ridicule you and make fun of you.”
Mr. Moes is a Vancouver-based anger management expert.
Tags: communication, crisis communications, issues management, media coverage, sports, Vancouver Canucks
On Sept 11, 2012, with an NHL lock-out looming on the 15th, the Vancouver Giants Hockey Club approached Peak to see if there was something we could do to position them as “Vancouver’s hockey team.”
We quickly met and proposed a “Re-discover Your Giants” campaign before the lock out actually started. We suggested offering Canucks fans a discount for the first three Giants’ games on Sept 21, 28 and 30 and a 20% discount on all merchandise just by showing their Canucks Member Cards. This evolved into a 20% discount on all red seats at the Pacific Coliseum – or $15 per seat, which was offered to all hockey fans.
We knew there would be many sports and news stories about the effects of the lockout so we wanted to bring a positive story to media. We called a news conference for Monday morning, September 17.
The Giants majority owner Ron Toigo announced the deal and why Giants Hockey was such a good value this year. He also introduced the new retro sweater to a dressing room crowded with media.
We arranged for 20 comp tickets per game to use as prizes to run on hockey blogs including the Canucks Army. In addition to running the news of the Giants discounts, they have awarded ticket prize packages to people who answered Giants-related trivia questions on a variety of social networks.
The result: thanks to earned media, the Giant’s integrated marketing campaign surpassed the expected sale of 5,500 seats for Friday’s game. According to the Vancouver Sun, the Giants played the Victoria Royals before an opening-night crowd of 7,812.
Tags: hockey, sports, Vancouver Giants, Vancouver Sun, Victoria Royals, WHL
