Also they do promotion such as “woman’s night”, which is when woman can go for free if they go with anyone who purchases the ticket. This is to get people into the arena to watch their matches and increase their interests in ice hockey.
During the focus group discussing I found out that recently, they were in a pop video with this garage group called More Fire Crew. If people didn’t know the Knights, they wouldn’t notice about the Knights.
They are sponsored by the Evening standard and they get to be on the newspaper sometimes. The Evening Standard writes article about the Knights if their story is interesting. There are Evening Standard adverts are being displayed in the Arena.
During my survey, I’ve noticed that every match they play, there were journalists who go in the VIP entrance and they sit in the VIP boxes. The Knights always invite the press to come and watch the match so there would be chances where the press can write an article the next day for London Knights in the newspaper. The press get in through the VIP entrance and they get to sit in the press box! Also the CEO Joan Hill goes to the press box every match to talk to the press, to build up the relationship and give the press a good impression and London Knights will be in the newspaper. In the press box, there is free food, free drinks and the staff or CEO go and entertain the press so the press have a good impression of London Knights and they would write an article about the Knights.
Also it’s to build a better relationship/communication between the press and the Knights.
When people read the back pages of the newspaper (sports) and see London Knights, they will wonder who are London Knights and they would start reading it and that person’s interest in ice hockey will increase if he/she finds it interesting.
They have been in newspapers such as the Evening Standard, East End Life and The Wharf. The local newspaper had articles about their matches at the back of the paper.
London Knights were on Kiss fm radio where the DJ talked about the London Knights ice hockey and promoted by giving out free tickets for the match. This is to get the radio audience to win free tickets to go and see ice hockey matches and once they go there, if they like ice hockey then they will go back for more. Therefore they would become the customers. 2.3% of the spectators have heard about London Knights on a radio and got attracted to watch ice hockey from the radio.
In every match, there are competitions for the fans to enter. They just simply fill in their name, address and telephone number and during the match, they announce the winner.
The knights got their spectators details through competitions and they use direct mail where they send the spectators special offers such as disco night and casino night.
The Knights have already got a website where they displayed the latest news, history, players profiles and corporate information etc. the design of a website is a marketing communication function, so it is very important that the design have to be good. The Knights web site looks very professional and the site is well laid out where people can understand the site, some other business sites are very confusing where you can’t see the links.
London Knights website comes up the most and on the top of a search engine when you type in “ice hockey”. This is an advantage where people will go to the Knights website first then the competitors. People get to know more about London Knights and their interests will increase and they would start going to the matches.
COMPETITORS
Their biggest competitors are the Nottingham Panthers, Sheffield Steelers and Belfast Giants. They are the top three in the league at the moment. In my research, I found out that Belfast Giants has an average of 4,500-5,000 people per game. They have a lot of families and large groups of people go and watch the match.
The latest new team for the season 2000/01 is Belfast Giants which is a welcome addition to the limited number of teams in the top league, bringing the total now to 8. This season saw the loss of the Newcastle and Cardiff franchises who dropped down to the lower British National League.
Sheffield Steelers
The Steelers started in 1993 and they have been around longer than the London Knights and they are more well known and seem to be more successful because after 10 years, they are still around and they still get a large number of spectators who go to their matches.
Darren Brown gave up his ownership of the Steelers before the end of the 2000-01 season and there then followed an almighty dispute between prospective owners Cooke, Jenkinson and Smith on the one side.
From the Steelers website, it stated that “The Steelers were Grand Slam winners in the season 95/96 (winning the Benson & Hedges Cup, the League and the Playoffs), so soon after their beginning in 1991. The Ice Hockey Superleague was set up for the season 96/97 and started out with 8 teams.”
The Sheffield Arena provides a perfect venue for the Steelers where crowds of up to 9,600 have seen some cracking games. Ice hockey could, if properly marketed, turn out to be a serious rival to the UK's traditional sports.
The type of promotions that they do are adverts in local newspaper, radio, Internet, schools and communities. They have got a web site where fans can go on and find out the latest information about the team.
The type of PR that they are doing at the moment are:
- geography lessons
- games of uni-hockey
- healthy eating
- drug awareness
- exercise technique.
They do geography lessons, healthy eating and drugs awareness to encourage children to do more work and then they will be rewarded with ice hockey tickets of equipment at the end. This is very educational where the parents like their children to do.
The games of uni-hockey and exercise technique allow the children to try out the sports and children will start playing more and build up the trend where children increases their interests in ice hockey so they will go to matches and watch it.
Their average ticket sales are around 7,500 and mostly young adults and family who go and watch their matches.
Belfast Giants
From the Belfast Giants current website I found out that the PR activity that they are doing a movie in Hollywood. Hollywood film producer Ginger Perkins went to Belfast for some location scouting in preparation for later this year, when Crusader Entertainment hope to begin filming a feature film based on the birth of the Harp Lager Giants with the working title: THE NEUTRAL ZONE.
Crusader Entertainment's CEO Howard Baldwin set the company up with Phillip Anschutz, (owner of the London Knights and LA Kings) three years ago. He has strong hockey connections, having set up the NHL's Hartford Whalers and having also owned the Pittsburgh Penguins. His previous production company produced the hockey movie Mystery, Alaska starring Russell Crowe and Burt Reynolds.
Belfast Giants have became very popular and they are on top of the league. They have got 7,100 ticket sales, which means they have got a lot of spectators/fans.
This would be a threat to London Knights because the Giants are going to be in movie at Hollywood and people will start to know more about Giants and this means they would be more successful.
Their average sales is 7,100 in a season and they get a large amount of families who go and watch their matches. Also they get a large group of friends and women.
They do promotions on TV, radio, through PRESS, billboard posters, their own cars and vans. They have got their own web site.
KEY PROBLEMS
The problems shown by survey carried out are most people don’t know much about ice hockey, they don’t know the rules and they think it’s boring. It is not accessed easily. They think other sports are more exciting, e.g. football. There are not many ice hockey teams in UK so people don’t seem to know anything about it.
From my survey, I found out that people in London don’t know much about ice hockey. They think it is boring sports. The most popular sports that people like to watch and play are football and basketball. Football is a very popular nationally. There are lots of football teams around and they have got a lot of spectators in every match. Even though their tickets are expensive, which is at least £25 a ticket but the football supporters are still willing to pay.
From the London Knights Press releases I’ve been looking at, they mentioned about the future where the London Knights have been confirmed as core tenants for the 20, 000 capacity arena planned for the Millennium Dome. Millennium Delta Ltd, of which the Knights parent group AEG is a major shareholder, has been confirmed as preferred bidders for the redevelopment of the Millennium Dome site. This would be a very major problem because the Dome is opening in 2005, but the new season matches will start again in September, meaning London Knights haven’t got a home to play any matches. They are trying to find a place where they can stay. One suggestion was an ice rink at Romford, London. But the rink can only fit 500 spectators. If London Knights move to there, they will lose the 5000 existing customers because the rink is too small to fit all of them.
The fans that concern about the London Knights had carried out a meeting on Saturday 6th June to find a solution where they can still watch London Knights matches before the Dome opens.
The secondary research shows that the most popular sports that are shows on TV are football, snooker and Formula 1. Focus Group was being carried out and people mentioned about Ice hockey is often showed on channel 5 during late night hours, which is around 11pm. But other sports are being show in the busiest hours, which is 7-9pm where there are a lot of audiences who are watching the TV.
A Survey was being carried out in this area and I found out that 21% of people who played football, which is the highest percentage out of all of the sports. Also it is the popular sports that most people watch at 13% which is also the highest percentage.
Target Audience
The segment that I’ll target is 16 to 24 years old Asian female and male within the East London area because there is a large number of residents in this area are Asian, people aged 16-24 years old can easily influence their friends with what they are doing or saying.
The survey shows that 47% of people who got attracted to ice hockey from friends and it is the highest percentage out of all categories.
Objectives
Their aim would be to increase the number of spectators to 8,000 by August 2004. Because they have increase their spectators up to 5,500 people this season and this is the 5th year of existence.
Strategy
Tactics
Positioning statement
Positioning Statement is a summary of describing the key aspects of the product.
The London Knights ice hockey team encapsulates the essence of ice hockey, a fast & furious team is packed full of energy and power that provides fun and good value entertainment for all the family. Some say that the sport contains violence but some insist that it is part of the sport and it’s all down to the pure adrenaline. Watching the London Knights is an exhilarating experience that installs fear and fun for all that attend.
PR
Activity 1 - Charity match with a famous football team
To create activities or events to attract more spectators, create a charity ice hockey match and invite a famous football team to play. West Ham football team are one of the biggest football teams in the UK, they have lots of customers who go and watch their games every match. It would be a very good idea if London Knights play a charity match with the team, because this is to get publicity and to get more people to know about the ice hockey and increase their interests.
Also West Ham is located in East London. This would be good if London Knights can also get in touch with them, as they are both in East London. West Ham and the London Knights are not far apart, so if London Knights can get West Ham fans interested in Ice Hockey, it would be very easy for the spectators to travel to watch a London Knights game because it is close to West Ham, it’s just like travelling to watch a football match in West Ham.
To get West Ham United to play this charity match, London Knights will need to get connected with the charities (e.g. cancer research) and then ask the West Ham if they are interested in playing a match together to raise some money. West Ham might be interested because this will also help them to build up an even better profile of the team. The customers will think that West Ham do not just play football but they also care about other people.
If West Ham are not interested, there are also other football teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea, and Charlton in the area.
When London Knights can get any of the teams above to play a charity match with, the type of promotions can be done are on TV, radio and the press about the charity event. Through the Press, they can put advertisements in newspaper nationally or locally. E.g. nationally would be The Mirror, The Sun, Evening Standard and The Mail. Locally would be Newham, East End Life and The Wharf in London. My primary research shows that the most common newspapers that read by people are East End Life which is 30% and it is a local newspaper, but nationally, 24% of people read The Sun, 22% read the Metro and 14% of people read the Mirror.
West Ham have got a lot of loyal supporters who go and watch their match, if they see the promotions about this charity match between London Knights and West Ham, then there will be more people who know about ice hockey, this will increase their interest in ice hockey. Therefore the number of spectators would increase.
On the night, London Knights can do more promotion about the next game, if people who go and watch it find ice hockey is interesting then they will come back to the London Arena again to watch ice hockey.
Activity 2 - Free VIP tickets to celebrities.
They can invite some famous celebrity who is very popular at the moment. E.g. Justin Timberlake to watch the match. Justin Timberlake is the most popular pop star that most teenagers like, between the age of 16-24 years old. The team can give him a VIP box. If Justin Timberlake is interested then he would turn up. London Knights wouldn’t lose any sales by doing this because the Arena have got extra VIP boxes sometimes and they are only giving away one box. Then the Knights can also offer the PRESS to come to the VIP boxes because they will be interested in a celebrity like Justin is going to watch ice hockey. Then the Knights will be in many newspapers where other people will read it and start to think what is ice hockey. So they will find more about it.
As Justin Timberlake lives in America, he may knows about ice hockey, he could be a fan of ice hockey.
Activity 3 - Celebrity presenters
London Knights can get a celebrity to be the presenter for the match, for example, Ant and Dec by hiring them and giving them a lot of discounts and offers. London Knights will get the attention if they use celebrity, and they would be in the PRESS, TV and radio more often because having a celebrity presenter, this would increase the interests of people watching the games. The PRESS like to find the latest news about any well known celebrities.
From my research it shows that people aged 16-24 like to meet celebrities in life, and Ant and Dec are the most popular presenters that present on teenagers shows.
Activity 4 - Lunch with college principle
The London Knights can have lunch with college principle to increase the principle interests and the principle can start doing promotion within the college.
The Knights can offer the principle a VIP box if he would like to go to a match and watch the game. The Knights can offer him to a deal where the Knights can help the college students with their work. The AVCE courses students need a real business company in their assignments and if London Knights can help them with their assignments by providing them the internal data where other businesses don’t often give it out then the principle would be interested.
Then students will get to know about it. Therefore students might start going toice hockey and the Knights can offer students discounts, since it’s cheaper, students would be interested. Ice hockey can be a new place where they can go with friends and it doesn’t cost more than £10. the survey shows that 21% of people who like to go on the ice after the match, a lot of 16-24 years old go ice skating with their friends in their spare time.
Activity 5 – corporate hospitality
The team can start getting in touch with the shops in Canary Wharf. E.g. Waitrose. Waitrose is a big company where they have lots of employees who work there. They offer a lot of benefits to their employee such as discounts with certain gyms, half price cinema and theatre tickets. So the Knights can offer Waitrose discounts to go and watch the Knights play ice hockey games. The staff would probably get interested. Posters can be displayed on the notice board for the staff to see.
Advertising
Television is the most powerful advertising medium available. From the advertising website it stated that there is over 80% of the UK population watches TV everyday. The benefit of advertising on TV is that the audience is massive and captive which is 80% of the population who watch TV but the costs are high.
TV is the most powerful advertising because over 80% of the UK population watch TV everyday. The audience is massive and captive. TV can be used locally, regionally ad nationally. But TV advertising is cost effective as you can see from the table on the previous page, it is because a advert costs lots of money where the people have to find a place and people to be in the advert and it is like a test pilot. If the London Knights can get a chance to advertise through TV. The teams should be in the advert and if there were any good looking guys in it, it would be good. So it could attract a high number of female customers. Ice hockey is a fast contact sport, to show the audience what is the ice hockey about, it is better to use the Knights own players to be in the ad. The background music that they can use is from Mission Impossible because it gives people a very exciting feeling. And there would be very short clips of the players trying to score a goal, showing how fast the sport is. From the adverts that I was watching on TV, I’ve noticed TV adverts are usually short which doesn’t last for 1 minute and an average of 30 seconds.
To reach my target audience, I’ve chosen the MTV Europe channel where I can advertise and the hours that I’m going to choose is Prime (1900-2359 and it costs £3,425.
Radio is a good way of advertising. From my research I’ve found out that in any four-week period, over 80% of 15 to 44 year olds listen to Commercial Radio. The majority of these listeners have their radio permanently tuned into their favourite station, which they listen to at the same time each day. Radio listeners are loyal and people relate to their favourite programmes and presenters. Radio is most popular outside peak television viewing hours, with breakfast time (6am to 9am) and evening drive time (5pm to 6pm) being the periods of heaviest listening. From the ADASSOC web site I found out that radio advertising is cheaper than TV advertising. People can only hear the adverts rather than using their eyes to watch it on the TV.
London Knights can start advertising on radio stations such as Capital FM, Kiss 100 and radio 1. Capital FM audiences are divided into three groups, they are the grown up parents aged between 25-34, single female and male aged of 20-29 and teenagers between 15-19.
The BRAD stated that the 15-24 years old have got the highest percentage out of all age groups and the percentage is 48%.
London Knights have a large amount of spectators between the age of 25-30 years old which is 25.8%. This means Capital FM would be the suitable radio to advertise.
The ADASSOC describe the “Outdoor advertising is a diverse medium appearing in many shapes and sizes. It includes poster advertising, station advertising (airports, train stations and bus termini), onboard advertising (smaller posters on trains, tube and taxis), sides and supersides advertising (posters and even individual paintwork on buses and taxis) and mobile advertising (lorries and trucks which are specifically built to carry mobile poster sites). “
The London Knights can start promotions in the Underground stations. There are a large amount of people who use the tube everyday and London Knights can start displaying posters at the platforms, people often look around and reading the adverts while they are waiting for the train and this will build up the people’s interests in ice hockey and the London Knights. Also this is the same as the posters on the escalators. People often look at the posters being displayed on the escalators because they ate standing there waiting for the escalator to get to the top where they can go to exit or down where they can go to the platforms. Escalators are slow and long so people start looking around and read the adverts
Small posters can also being displayed inside the tube. They have already got small posters in the DLR, so the next step they can move into the tube where there is a bigger market because there are more people who use the tube everyday.
Sales promotion
Sales promotion is a good way of getting more customers over a short period.
The type of activities that the Knights can use is collecting player stickers. Produce some player sticker books and producing stickers for the fans aged 16-24 years or even older. By looking at other sports magazine such as the teenager’s magazine, they sometimes bring out a sticker book collection for the football fans to collect stickers of the football teams. The Knights can give away a sticker each week, to collect all the stickers, they have to come to every match and watch. This means fans will come back to the London Arena so the number of spectators will continue increase.
Also they can give out player cards after each match to the fans so they can collect it. At the front of each card, there can be a picture of a player and at the back, the details/profile of the player. This will help the people to know more about the team and the players and the sales will increase. This is to aim at fans that don’t know much about the players, where they can find out more information about their favourite team but this also benefits the new spectators to get to know more about the team. My target group is Asian aged 16-24 years old, by doing this offer will benefit them to get to know more about the team.
Player display toys, this would b a very good idea because fans can collect it and put them as display in their room. London Knights can offer fans to collect 3 tickets from different matches to swap a toy of a player. So therefore if the fans want to collect the toys, then they will come back and watch it more so they will make more sales. By looking at the teenager’s magazines that are for 16-24 years old. They often give out free products with the magazine to attract more customers. The 16-24years old are often attracted to the free toys or any products.
Pick a winner each match by picking out a ticket number from a hat and the ticket holder can meet the players.
London Knights can offer the local newspaper to give out buy 1 get 1 free tokens in the newspaper for a certain period. They can offer East End Life, The Wharf and Metro to do this promotion, a high percentage of people who read the Metro everyday, there are lots of copies of the newspaper every morning in every train stations. If people see the buy 1 get 1 free offer, their interests will increase, people likes buy 1get 1 free products so they will go and watch London Knights. This is to attract the people who read the Metro on the train or tube everyday which is working people.
Direct marketing and New Media
The Knights have already got a website where they displayed the latest news, history, players profiles and corporate information etc. the design of a website is a marketing communication function, so it is very important that the design have to be good. The Knights web site looks very professional and the site is well laid out where people can understand the site, some other business sites are very confusing where you can’t see the links.
London Knights website comes up the most and on the top of a search engine when you type in “ice hockey”. This is an advantage where people will go to the Knights website first then the competitors. People get to know more about London Knights and their interests will increase and they would start going to the matches.
Pop ups is a way of advertising on the Internet where it will catches people’s eyes. London Knights can start producing a pop up at some certain sites such as Amazon, this site has got a lot of “hits” and it is a well known web site. When people see the London Knights pop ups, they will start thinking what is London Knights, if they want to know more about it, then they will click on the pop up where it will take them straight to the Knights web site.
They are already using direct mail where they send the spectators special offers such as casino night and disco on certain night. They have got competitions at every match and spectators fill in the sheet where they could be entered to the draw, they have got the spectators details through the competitions.
Mobile phones is a new and good way of direct marketing because everyone owns a mobile phone, even children in secondary school have got a mobile. Most 16-24 years old own a mobile phone and some of them even have more than one. From the competitions, the spectators have already given out their details such as address, name, mobile numbers and email etc. The Knights can start using mobile direct mail to communicate with their customers.
