Detroit Red Wings Digital Campaign Kristen Arsenault ADV 420 April 13th, 2015

It’s Red Wings playoff season. The Red Wings, a team that’s part of the Original Six, has hardcore fans around the state that endlessly support their team. We want these fans to bolster awareness and support for The Red Wings by increasing apparel sales for the team. Our target audience is 30- to 40- year-old male hockey fans who live in Michigan. They are very dedicated to their team, and they love to support them and wear Red Wings jerseys and apparel, especially during the playoff time of year. The men in our target audience use social media, namely Instagram and Twitter. Target Audience

The Campaign The overall objective of the campaign is to increase apparel sales from the official NHL Red Wings store by using social media, search engine marketing, and Google AdWords. An additional goal of the campaign are to increase social media interactions by 25%. A blogging platform would not be beneficial for our target audience. We must increase organic visibility for the Red Wings apparel page, and these strategies will drive traffic to it. The campaign centers around the fans sending in their own pictures of Red Wings apparel and utilizing those pictures to entice people to buy their own apparel. Utilizing fan photos will make the campaign relatable for potential consumers. The hashtag #RocktheRed will be used on Instagram and Twitter, social media that our target audience uses. A photo contest will occur during every game; participants must post a photo on either social media platform using the hashtag and they must follow the Red Wings account on that media. All Red Wings social media will repost the photo and enter the contestant in a drawing to win 2 tickets to the final playoff game. The contest increases interaction with fans and makes them feel a part of the brand and, by extension, part of the team they love.

Social Media The social media aspect of the campaign is also a beneficial form of inbound marketing. People posting their photos on their own social media is personalizing the brand to their followers and making it a new kind of word-of-mouth marketing. Our target audience checks their social media several times a day, and the strategy of initiating social media conversations for people to see will help increase awareness of Red Wings apparel.

Search Engine Marketing Search engine marketing is an important part of the campaign as well. People will be searching outside of social media for Red Wings apparel. A Google AdWords campaign will take place during the playoff season, which lasts March 4th - April 11th. The keywords we will use are: Detroit Red Wings, Red Wings Jersey, and Hockey Apparel. To better target Red Wings fans, the adwords campaign will be targeted to searches in Michigan only.

Google Search Ad Examples 1) DETROIT RED WINGS SHOP -Official website for Detroit Red Wings apparel -The Detroit Red Wings shop is currently featuring 2015 NHL playoff apparel - special online only deals before the first playoff game! - d_Wings_Gear 2) DETROIT HOCKEY APPAREL -Get all of the gear and apparel for your favorite hockey team in one online shop -Special offers on vintage Red Wings playoff jerseys - hurry, it lasts until May 1st! - Wings_Gear

Google AdWords With a daily forecast of 5.12 clicks at a maximum cost of $27 for 39 days (the length of the playoff season), the estimated cost of the Google AdWords campaign is $1,053. Using adwords increasing the visibility of the Red Wings shop and increases the chances of people purchasing from that website. Advertising the social media contest on the Red Wings shop landing page will inform buyers about their opportunity to wear the apparel they purchase and have a chance to go to game 7 of the playoffs.landing page Google AdWords is the best way to reach people through search engines - which is how people search for most of their information now because of mobile phones and tablets. It’s convenient and easy. Using Google Adwords will allow the campaign to set a budget and use keywords that the audience will search for to gain more visibility.

Google AdWords Additional budgetary measures aside from the Google AdWords campaign are the Red Wings social media controllers. For each of the 39 games, a half an hour will be billed to choose the #RocktheRed picture of the night. This digital marketing will cost $4,875 given that each hour of digital marketing is $250/hour. The total budget for the campaign will be $5,928. Increased sales from the campaign will justify the cost and boost profits for the Red Wings and the NHL. AdWords plan

In Summary Overall, the digital marketing campaign for the Red Wings is designed to increase sales for Red Wings apparel. Playoff season is a period of immense pride for our target audience and they love to show their pride by wearing Red Wings jerseys, t-shirts, hats, and other apparel. We want to showcase our target audience wearing their gear to inspire others to purchase their own and show their team pride.

Photo Sources: o.svg/1280px-Detroit_Red_Wings_logo.svg.png o.svg/1280px-Detroit_Red_Wings_logo.svg.png (screenshot) (screenshot) Google AdWords - screenshot