Gameops.com: Five years ago you joined us to talk about promotional night while you were working with the Atlanta Thrashers (NHL). You have now shifted to the NBA (Atlanta Hawks). I want to compare contrast those a bit.
Peter Sorckoff: To clarify, I never left the Thrashers, the Hawks were added to my responsibilities. Two years ago we repurposed to our hockey staff during the lock out to focus on the basketball team. It was a great opportunity for us to apply the successful formula of the Thrashers to the Hawks presentation. With only one operational team we were able to use the year to assess areas of change and to really learn the NBA, the nuances of the game as well as the league.
Gameops.com: Are promotional nights more or less important in basketball…why?
Peter Sorckoff: I don’t think that promotional nights are more important in basketball then they are in hockey. In our organization the ultimate goal of a promotional night is to sell tickets. Regardless of the dressing we hang around the windows – the night has no shot at being a success with out a strong ticketing component.
Promotional nights really end up being a vehicle for us to reach out to a specific demo or to capitalize on an event or holiday (noche latino nights, scout night, military nights, police fire day etc.). The spin off effects are good PR opportunities, and added value to season ticket holders. For those reasons we don’t believe that promotional nights have varying value in any sport – most teams always need to sell tickets!
Gameops.com: Is there any significant difference in hockey and basketball promotional nights?
Peter Sorckoff: I believe that basketball games provide more opportunities to weave the common thread of the promotional theme into the game. There are more time outs, more entertainment elements (usually multiple mascots, dance teams, dunk teams etc) and there is more access to the playing field – better chances to put the theme front and center.
That being said I don’t think that solid theme nights can’t work in hockey. The Manchester Monarchs Mullet night is a great example of that. They were able to carry the theme over a variety of different mediums (at one point I think players wore mullets during warm ups) and I’m sure accomplished the same net effect.
Gameops.com: In the last five years do you think the game operations business has changed much? If so, how?
Peter Sorckoff: I think that there has been a tremendous change in game presentation over the last 5 years. The “fan experience” has become top of mind for most teams (especially teams not in traditional markets) and because of that, expectations have changed. In our organization game presentation is considered a key ingredient in the value quotient for fans. If the team underachieves on any given night, the fan can still leave the arena with a positive impression because the overall experience (how the game was packaged) was fulfilling. I think fewer fans live and die by wins and losses and clearly casual fans are interested in the entertainment value of the event. With the myriad of competing options available for fans discretionary income, teams have had to up the ante on what the fans get from coming to a game.
Team marketing departments have also begun to capitalize on the opportunity to reinforce their teams brand during games. With both the Hawks and Thrashers we work in concert with our ad agency and marketing department to carry the theme and design elements of our campaigns in-arena. Last season’s Thrashers opening video sequence as well as our full graphics package revolved around the campaign “Blueland”. We have found great economies of scale in using those same graphics in our TV spots and in mediums outside of the arena. This same philosophy has spilled over with our creative services group where we share player photo shoots and pass along our graphics to be used on the web and in our collateral printed materials. For us game presentation has evolved to play a larger part in the marketing of the team.
Finally, I think that game presentation has been dramatically affected by emerging technologies that were not available 5 years ago. The advent of HD, LED boards, the ability to interact with fans real time through SMS and their cell phones during games and a host of other equipment has completely changed the landscape. I have found over the years that with these changes some sponsors have gravitated towards interactive promotions that include fans rather then simple static signage (dramatically increasing the overall value/contribution of game presentation).
Gameops.com: You talked about extending your promotion across all facets of your presentation. Is this still a focus, and do you have additions to the list of elements you now consider?
- Music, specific anthem singers, post game concerts.
- Video live – and pre produced
- Mascot, spirit squads, dance teams, dunk squads, roller teams, breakers, improve comedians/plants
- Concessions, Security and Ushers
- Concourse areas, external set ups (on the outside of the facility)
- Premium items, player uniforms
- Current contests and promotions
Peter Sorckoff: We still attempt to thread the theme through as many areas and mediums as possible. With the amount of labor and resources required to execute a good theme night – the initial qualifier for us has become – what is the ticketing initiative attached to the concept? For our teams, promoting a theme night by itself does not generate the kind of return that justifies the expended resources. We would rather do fewer nights really well, (to targeted demos) then a lot of nights ok to a wider cross section of fans.
Gameops.com: We talked about crossing the line in promotions to where they become “too much”? How do you weigh that in your market? Are there key people you talk to in order to gauge how much you are doing (fans, media, staff, and partners)?
Peter Sorckoff: The line of too much can easily be blurred and I think the best barometer of that is our fans. Our research dept. surveys our fans through out the year to find their likes and dislikes. That data shapes many of our decisions and how we allocate our resources. We discuss theme nights in the off season as part of our strategic planning cycle. Those meetings include our marketing, ticketing, community development, PR departments and occasionally our sponsorship group. Each group has an opportunity to debate the concepts, the target audience, dates and potential sponsor opportunities. This is also generally when the line in the sand is drawn as to what is appropriate and what is too much.
Gameops.com: The web is becoming more pervasive and powerful in connecting fans, including the proliferation of connectivity in-game. Are you doing anything that connects you to fans in their seats via technology?
Peter Sorckoff: We are just completing North America's first mobile commerce test with 150 season ticket holders. A specially-enabled mobile device provided by Nokia and operating on Cingular's network allowed select fans to pay for food and merchandise in-arena with their cell phone. The phone was also used to download team specific content via smart posters and smart cards which provided our fans immediate access to team specific news and notes, screen savers, video, photos and games directly to their cell. The newest application, ticket promotions, was tested at the end of the season. Fans were presented with an option to select from among reserved seats via their cell, text-in their seat order and within a few seconds the tickets were delivered to their phone. To redeem the tickets, the fans would simply pass their device over a "reader" stored within a self-serve kiosk. The kiosk validated the stored tickets on the cell and then printed the tickets specifically assigned to the fan's phone.
For the last two years we have also been incorporating SMS technology in our games in a variety of ways. We initially began polling fans on a series of trivia or opinion based questions on screen. That quickly led to allowing fans to vote with their phones on what song was played during the Jam Cam, what player was interviewed during the walk off and even which bachelor a bachelorette was set up with in one our in game promotions (all results are displayed on screen real time as votes come in via bar graphs and percentages).
Last season we introduced “text to screen” for both teams. During the pre-game and intermissions fans could send text messages to us which we displayed on the video board. A crawl was set up on the bottom of our screens and ran like an ESPN score ticker. All messages were approved by a mediator before they made the crawl (an obvious necessity). In total we averaged 1800-2000 messages a game on the Thrashers side and 900-1200 at Hawks games. The program allows us to “ping” fans back with thank you messages and to send them special offers or any other messages. We are already working on the next evolution of this program which will take fan interactivity/connectivity with their phone to another level.
I feel this is very exciting and largely untapped new technology that could have major implications on how a person experiences the event. For the first time our fans (from their seats) have a measure of control over the programming or content that they receive at the game. The spin off benefit is another medium to reach fans with offers and new data base generation.
Gameops.com: Let’s talk premiums. What’s hot for you? Anything cracking the bobbleheads for top tier giveaways?
Peter Sorckoff: Bobbleheads are still very popular for us, although kid’s uniforms run a close second. On the Hawks side we do a uniform series – shorts one night, jersey another, socks/wrist/head bands on another. Fleece blankets have also been very popular on the hockey side.
Gameops.com: With a younger team and few established players how are you selecting the players to build your premiums around?
Peter Sorckoff: Player selection for bobbleheads is a collective decision that includes the marketing group as well as the GM’s for each team. Although both teams are young we have had no aversion to selecting rookies for bobbleheads. Most of the decision is driven by fan affinity and players that we feel we are building the team and the brand around. “Face, Name, Personality”, is one our team mantra.
Bobbleheads are a fantastic vehicle to elevate a player’s stature with fans (also great shelf life). Based on that philosophy, younger players, even blue chip rookie are better candidates for bobbleheads then established stars… not that we don’t use our veteran stars too!
Gameops.com: The sixth edition of the Best of Awards are coming this December. Any thoughts on who is doing extraordinary work?
Peter Sorckoff: I always struggle to judge other peoples work because I believe game presentation is very subjective – to me it’s successful if it works for the fans in that city. What works in some cities may not in others (traditional vs. non) and often times the philosophy of a teams management shapes the game presentation more then the person responsible.
Having said that… in my personal opinion the Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns do an unbelievable job in the NBA. Those are teams I have traveled to watch, quizzed and modeled most often as we reshaped the Hawks over the last two seasons. On the hockey side I think Manchester has always been very creative with their resources and operated as though they are a big league team. There are so many new directors in the NHL and I unfortunately have not seen many NHL shows this season. Columbus has always been great and I’m not sure there is anyone more original or creative then Mark Tamar in Washington.
Thanks to Peter for his time, he is a real leader in the world of game operations and I always enjoy his insights.
