Coyotes 2.0: A New NHL 2016/17 Season Ad Campaign That Claims Not To Be An Ad Campaign

10 days ahead of the new NHL season, the Arizona Coyotes have rolled out a marketing initiative that axes the ad campaign clichés and old-school slogans and instead focuses entirely on the players and the team’s on-ice performance.

According to the team, the tired, old-school ad approach is gone and has been replaced by a new hockey-focused effort called ‘Coyotes 2.0’.

For the upcoming 2016/17 hockey season, the new approach is unveiled in a letter written by the team and sent to the fans.

The letter stresses that the team is committed to staying in the Phoenix market and actually apologising for previous ad campaigns with tag lines like ‘Join the Hunt’, ‘Run with Pack’ and ‘Coyotes Cool’ and instead unveils a marketing reset that promises to focus only on hockey and winning.

The fan letter wassent not just to season-ticket holders and the club’s database, but also to the team’s 300,000 Facebook fans and 239,000 Twitter followers,

A letter from us to you: pic.twitter.com/J7wz17BzOD

— Yotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) October 3, 2016

as well as running on its Instagram feed.

A letter from us to you.

A photo posted by Arizona Coyotes (@arizonacoyotes) on Oct 3, 2016 at 8:23am PDT

The letter was followed up by simple ticket-drive spot, initially launched on YouTube and then airing on local television, fronted by team captain Shane Doan that invites fans down to the Gila River Arena for the first home game and carrying the #Coyotes2.0 line.

A message from the Captain: pic.twitter.com/qgJpjddoML

— Yotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) October 3, 2016

It also ran on Twitter Moments.

Coyotes 2.0

This is the first of several planned commercials – spanning TV, digital and radio – with a focus on specific players (such as Doan and >Max Domi).

.@craigsmorgan: #Coyotes 2.0 marketing campaign set to launch Story here: https://t.co/cIlM2poeE0

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) October 3, 2016

In recent years the Coyotes have indeed rolled out various different fan-engagement, supporter-drive and ticket-sales campaigns.

‘Some of [our previous campaigns] have been cheesy,’ said Coyotes marketing VP Josh Marguilies.

Margulies, who only joined the Coyotes front office in July from a health care technology marketing firm in Silicon Valley, even compared the new advertising campaign to the old Seinfeld joke.

‘It’s how Seinfeld was a TV show about nothing,’ he added.

Working with Phoenix-based agency Owens Harkey Advertising, the team is leaving behind the classic marketing staples of billboards and press ads and moving towards media work that offers the ability to track ROI.

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The switch in approach perhaps follows recent speculation that the NHL franchise was considering moving away from Phoenix, but is now, instead, seeking a new arena site in the Phoenix metro area.

The fact that the Coyotes haven’t made the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2010 may also be behind the tactical switch.

This year is the team’s 20th season in Arizona after it move from Winnipeg in 1996.

‘When you come to this point, 20 years in, you evaluate, look back at those 20 years and take stock of the things you did right and the things you did wrong,’ says team president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc.

‘I’m proud of the work we’ve done over last three years since we took ownership but I also realize that we put out a lot of tag lines over that time and things weren’t always optimal.’

‘Maybe it’s because of the 20 years or the work we’ve done over the last three years, but we feel like it’s time to let the team do the talking,’ LeBlanc said.

Links:

Arizona Coyotes Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ArizonaCoyotes

@ArizonaCoyotes

Arizona Coyotes Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ArizonaCoyotes/

Arizona Coyotes YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/phoenixcoyotes

Arizona Coyotes Web:

https://www.nhl.com/coyotes/

Arizona Coyotes Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/arizonacoyotes/