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BRIDGESTONE NHL WINTER CLASSIC MEDIA CONFERENCEDecember 28, 2011Brian JenningsDAVID KEON: Welcome, thanks for coming to today's media session. Before I introduce Brian Jennings, just want to give a quick update on what's going on outside. I think as most of you have seen, there's about a little over an inch of ice down. Dan Craig and his crew are on schedule. They will paint the ice tonight and continue to add ice tomorrow and put the rest of the lines down. Also, the decor is going in over the boards, staging for the broadcasters, things are right on schedule. Spectator Plaza is also under construction and that will be ready in time for Saturday when that opens at 9:00 A.M. So Brian Jennings will be up next. He has been with the NHL since 1990, and is currently serving as executive vice president of marketing and oversees the league's global marketing, retail and licensing operation. Brian has worked on all of the Winter Classics and outdoor games, and is one of the individuals that's been on the planning and developing a lot of the areas that affect business. So Brian is going to take you through some licensing and retail today‑‑ he's done is several times and it's a valuable session and gives you a perspective on what goes into making the uniforms and other products that people love. BRIAN JENNINGS: Great to be here today and appreciate everybody taking time out of their busy schedules to attend and join us. I certainly want to start by thanking both the Flyers' organization and Mr.Snider and Peter Luukko and the Rangers' organization, as well, and working through this and executing an event of this size and magnitude takes a lot of cooperation, a lot of planning and preparation and both of those organizations have been stellar in their cooperation with us, so we want to thank them. Also want to thank Bridgestone because without a title sponsor we could not do any of this without their great support and efforts. They are a tremendous partner and bought into the vision many years ago on what we wanted to give our fans, a celebration of hockey so thank you to Bridgestone. And also would be remiss if I did not thank the City of Philadelphia who helped us in pulling this off. Again, all of the permits, police and security and welcoming and hospitality is important, and they have been great and highly cooperative, as well. In a city that's known for its unique brand of hockey, this is an event that is both unique and independent and the league is quite proud of what the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic has turned into and transformed. A key part of that transformation has been the marketing in and around it. I think in quite a simple way, when we set out bringing the game to its very roots, you know, it's a very simple concept in nature, and the celebration of hockey outdoors where it all began for a lot of these players and a lot of us as fans, we have been able to capture that DNA in the brand of the Winter Classic. A lot goes into that, and I think the part that's maybe most satisfying from a marketing perspective is the fact that we have been able to take it just from a campaign and transition into a conversation. We have taken it from impressions and turned those into connections and I think when we look at that from a marketing perspective, it has become part of the vernacular, in all of sports, not just hockey. This event has helped transformed how they view the game, and the players and the fans enjoy this day very much, very much and I think that will be on display very shortly. What I thought I would do was highlight two of the various commercials. Part of the marketing, it's very critical that we work in cooperation with our broadcasting partners, obviously with NBC here in the States and north of the border that's CBC. These type of campaigns, we work very closely in shared assets and try to communicate from a common brand perspective. So the first spot you will see is a typical hard‑hitting spot we have done; a 30‑second spot celebrating the players that are going to be playing; and the neatness of the cities, a celebration of Philadelphia and a background of New York as a participating team. The other spot was taking a fun or light‑hearted way with the campaign and done something very much casual and welcoming and a celebration of the game of hockey. What I mean, you'll see a celebrity appearance, one of our former players participating in it, a lot of product and partner integration into the spot, as well. But we have had a lot of fun with it, we took an old, traditional Canadian hockey song and put a little modern day twist on to it. So without further ado, I'll show you the two spots. (Commercials played). BRIAN JENNINGS: Those two spots give you a feel for how we are positioning this event. Needless to say, radio, digital, social support and our retail partners do a great deal of extending our brand out to their region for their customers so, it is a 360‑degree surrounding of our fans and making sure that they are aware that on January 2 in Philadelphia, the Rangers and Flyers will be taking it outdoor. The other part that's important from a business perspective and a lot goes back to the initial strategy from a league perspective, very much important that we start to demonstrate how fans can behave differently using incremental behavioral fans and really start to mobilize our fan base. That is evident and will be evident when you go out to Spectator Plaza the next couple of days. Our partners have leveraged their association and using our fan base, you can see ways of activating the brand and leveraging the media assets that go along with that which is critically important. The other area that's key is our consumer products business. Certainly the uniforms get a great deal of attention and I thought it would be interesting for the group just to see a little bit of what goes on behind the development of the creative Marks not just on the ice but behind, the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic logo and playing homage to one of most highly recognized and iconic symbols in Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell, and when that was first summoned to the citizens of Philadelphia and when the first reading of the Declaration of Independence was read. We have our creative service department that develops these marks and a lot of time and effort goes into it. Inspiration is a word you hear a lot in the creative process. When we came here on the uniform side, we worked closely in collaboration with Reebok on the development of the uniforms and obviously in addition to the Reebok alliance, we worked very, very closely with the two participating clubs. In Philadelphia, you come down and look at what is on the presentation right now, it's a little bit of what we call a mood board where you start to get some ideas of what is the inspiration, what do you want the brand to represent, what are the things that the club feels strongly about, whether that be color or other clues that you look for in the marketplace. So Reebok and their design team worked very closely with us and the member clubs to come up with what you would see to the left here, and the Philadelphia uniform with Mr.Snider and his real passion for the Philadelphia logo itself, he didn't want a lot of alterations and in past years, a lot of teams have allowed us what we called a fusion type of Winter Classic uniform. He felt strongly what it represents in Philadelphia but you'll see some very unique ways of celebrating the captain and the C and the Keystone State and some of the lettering and fonts that are use that are very much marketing the simplistic time that the jersey is back to, where the design was again much more simple and straightforward. Next one you see on the board there is the Rangers inspiration and interestingly enough, it was a trainer back in the early 1920s that was the inspiration behind the primary mark there, which is what you see being transported into the uniform that they will wear on January 2. And again, so it gives you an idea of the deep collaboration that goes on and the insights that lead you ultimately to what gets executed. But it's not just about the uniforms. As important as they are, and every year, I think we have some slides here illustrating the importance of it, but I don't want to be overly dramatic on what the uniforms represent. They are important but they have really come to symbolize what this game is all about, the celebration of hockey. When those players in the first took the ice up at Ralph Wilson stadium in Wrigley, Detroit, Chicago, the inspiration behind both of those uniforms, 1935 in Chicago and the 1950s in Detroit the stylized D and ultimately last year at Heinz Field, the Capitals' inspiration, as well as the Penguins. So a lot of work goes into it, and what that allowed us to do is to take it all from a uniform perspective and really celebrate the game and create other types of ancillary products to come out in addition to just the uniforms. So what I think is exciting for us to showcase today, as we have a couple of guests that are going to be coming in that will be showcasing a couple of our live models, I'll bring J.D. up to the stage here when will be working his way up. He is going to be sporting the Philadelphia Flyers lifestyle product. We also have Valerie coming up and she is sporting the Rangers lifestyle product and winter gear as you can see, compliments of both Reebok and the 47 brand. So you can see a lot of work that goes into this, the hoody has been very popular, and a lot of the knit hats, as they call them north of the boarder, some of the products that are the most neat in all of sports. And last but not least, the superstar of the moment, we are joined by Addison who will join us on stage, I don't know if you can get much cuter than that, but she is sporting some of our Winter Classic gear and she's going to be set for the plummeting temperatures. We are really excited to have the products here but I think just, again, wanted to showcase the fact that the uniforms are vitally important, and the cornerstone of our consumer products business. There's so much more for the fans and probably one of the greatest moments for many of the league personnel that work very, very hard on this, on the planning of this event, is when you walk into the stadium you and see the reaction for how the core has transformed the stadium here that the fill lies have graciously allowed us to have as our home temporarily, but also how the fans react to the product and all of the unique things that we do on their behalf, so it was quite important. These are also products available at Modell's and Dick's Sporting Goods and JcPenney's for the local people here in Philadelphia, who are great supporters of our brand. We have had 15 percent year over year growth in our consumer product business and so we continue to ride quite an exciting momentum and energy behind the brand. The Winter Classic is that midseason celebration point for us along with our All‑Star Game that we very much look forward to. So wanted to give you that overview, and certainly open it up for any questions. Q. Inaudible. BRIAN JENNINGS: Well, it's very rewarding. Obviously Philadelphia participated in the event at Fenway as the club coming in and the entire organization of Philadelphia saw the power of hosting the game, not just participating in the game. By coming here to Philadelphia, a sit that I is known for [] being fiercely independent and also a unique brand of hockey, it's a real way for the league to say thank you for the fans of Philadelphia and certainly a recognition of how important of a hockey market that is for us. From a league perspective, we are thrilled to be here, could not be happier, and I think that the weather will cooperate. We are going to have a great day on January 2. Q. What is the projection for the weather and is there a potential of moving the time back? BRIAN JENNINGS: Yeah, I think‑‑ I'm not sure on the NBC side whether there's a margin, I think not to move the game back, but we would look at possible movement to the next day possibly, but I don't believe that that will be necessary based on everything that we are seeing with the weather forecast. Q. Can you talk about sales of jerseys have gone versus last year or previous years? BRIAN JENNINGS: Yeah, they have been pretty much right on the mark with that. I think we got a little bit of a later start this year, and that was really more from a league perspective than anything else. So the jerseys did not arrive until a little bit later. I did not look at the numbers if we hit the thresholds, but I know Peter's comments to the media, they have been some of the hottest. I think on Cyber Monday, Winter Classic products represented 15 to 20percent of sales of the whole product demand online, and I know that's a good indication; and in our store in New York and here in Philadelphia, we hear the demand was write robust, and not just the jerseys, all of the other products are really going along right now with double digit increases across the board; so head ware and active wear and kids and women's apparel. Q. How has the reaction been to the logo? BRIAN JENNINGS: It's funny we follow online very closely what people are saying, and although the creative process, everybody has an opinion, and sometimes when you read that, it can be quite startling when you see some of the feedback. But I think by and large, we seem to have hit a chord with the design process that we follow for the Winter Classic. I would really go back and point to 2008 setting the stage when we followed that path and methodology, it worked for us. So the simplicity of the uniform designs, the inspiration of where the marks come from and even on the Rangers mark, as you called out going out to the early 1920s and the trainer, hairy westerly was his name, I think wore it on his sweater, I think those types of stories, the fans really respond to. So I think overall very, very positive response when you look at that trend. Q. You mentioned the Flyers jersey and logo, did you approach them with something different? BRIAN JENNINGS: In the collaboration process, what we always do is let the creative team go off and let them immerse themselves in the City of Philadelphia, so they come down and spend a couple of days and look for things that they think would be unique and creative. What we always want to do is go back and give the club some options, almost like we typically go. We have some reach ones that you think might be a little bit too far maybe away, and use the more conservatives in there, and it's not just to say that we hope we meet somewhere in the mid 8. Part of it is creating change, but doing things that are true to the brand. I really do applaud Mr.Snider, he cares so passionately about the Flyers' logo and the brand and what it represents and how they look when they take the ice. That was really first and foremost in his mind. And certainly Mr. Luukko go and the rest of the organization that work with us. Reebok gives us a broad pallet to paint from and from that process, we'll continue to scale it down and we always do push the club to make sure that we look at it‑‑ Detroit would be an example where they were open enough because they felt the stylized D was not part of their history and tradition. Each year that we have worked has been a strong collaboration, and one of the most rewarding. Q. Any advantages to marketing in a baseball stadium, and would a soccer stadium ever be considered? BRIAN JENNINGS: You are only limited by your imagination and in some instances, the NFL has been very gracious about allowing us into their stadiums. They are sometimes limiting our ability to spend the amount of time in laying the rink down and so much time goes into the rink and I think our ability to involve the communities is a real strong asset that having the event in a baseball stadium brings. I know challenges from a broadcasting perspective. Sam Flood mentioned that on his media call a couple of days ago where‑‑ how you shoot a game in a stadium and sometimes it can be a little trying versus a football stadium, at least the way it's laid out, it's more welcoming and accepting of a hockey layout on it. The sight lines are unique and we always try to let the fans know and our event does a great job augmenting and supplementing with video boards if they need that to make sure every fan has at least a unique position to watch the game. Q. Continuing to build the event, how do you make it unique from one stadium‑‑ BRIAN JENNINGS: I think the marketplace is what you look for in these periods of being unique. So the marketplace that you're going into, you always want to tip your hat and acknowledge that you're in a marketplace‑‑ Philadelphia here has strong hockey roots, and make sure you play to that strength. I think that your partners marketing this, each year we try to do things differently from a league perspective working with our broadcast partners how we showcase the game and I think that's been fun and exciting. I think you look to your partners for activation and whether they are launching either a new product or commercial in and around the Winter Classic as a point of differentiation in that; I can tell you that there's no when we finish a big event like this, we do a pretty expensive debrief. We look at what went well, perhaps if something had not gone well, how do we fix that but how do we make it special for the fan. I can tell you the league has a very, very laser focus on what that fan experience is, from those that are walking into Spectator Plaza and into the stadium or arena itself and for those that are watching at home. So for entertainment value, it's all of that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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