How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?

In sports marketing, rather than talking at people with cliché campaigns that say how great your team is, we believe it's better to let people participate in your brand. This advertising campaign was completely based on community involvement. We created an event and an in-game, every game ritual whereby Minnesotans created the ice surface the team skates on, from water sourced from their family ponds, favorite lakes, and backyard hockey rinks. The fans engagment became the advertising platform.

Objective:

In late September, when the Minnesota Wild season begins, people unfortunately aren’t thinking about hockey, nor are they buying single game tickets. In a crowded sports market such as the Twin Cities, the sports conversation is dominated by college football, MLB playoffs, and the behemoth that is the NFL season. So how do you 1. engage a broader group of fans and 2. make them feel like a part of the team regardless of the time of year and regardless of if they keep underperforming? Introducing This is Our Ice.

Strategy & Execution:

To engage a broader group of fans, we did research and found that it wasn’t the players or the stats that made a Minnesota Wild fan. Even though we value the wins and have high expectations for the team, what draws people to fandom is much, much deeper. It’s the sense of community that motivates people to become—and remain—fans.

Our challenge was to find an idea that not only strengthened the fans’ sense of community but to make them all feel they have an important role to play for this team. We needed to find something that all Minnesotans had in common and connect them to the Wild.

In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, lakes that in the winter freeze into 10,000 ice skating rinks, we found that truly Minnesotan connection. This Is Our Ice isn’t just an ad campaign, it’s a call to arms and a new tradition: inviting people from all over to bring their water to contribute to the ice that the players will literally be skating on this season.

Whether it’s a backyard rink, nearby pond, or the ice at the Xcel Energy Center, This Is Our Ice. All of ours.

Results:

By the time 2,100 fans showed up to the September event with pond water to flood the rink, the team knew it was on to something. It had already set State Fair records for merchandise and ticket sales and seen more than four thousand social posts (totaling more than 54 million impressions) using #OurIce. And the momentum continued into the season, when earned media share-of-voice was up 100 percent as compared with years past.

This Is Our Ice generated more than 50 media placements in national outlets including Sports Illustrated, NHL Network, CBS Sports, Hockey Feed, The Comeback, and local broadcast, print and online outlets. These placements generated more than 115 million media impressions. Most importantly, single game ticket sales increased by six percent compared to the previous year.

Production

• Minnesota Wild
• ICF Next

Credits

Tom Lord
Creative Director
ICF Next

Corey Price
SVP
ICF Next

Dom DeLoya
Copywriter
ICF Next

Abby Stavig
Senior Broadcast Producer
ICF Next

Kirsten O'Callaghan
Senior Integrated Producer
ICF Next

Cody Brown
Director & Editor
ICF Next

Ron Hall
Account Supervisor
ICF Next

Joe Monnens
Executive Creative Director
ICF Next

Steve Peckham
Partner
ICF Next

Leila Erickson
Senior Account Executive
ICF Next

Bryan Specht
Growth & Innovation
ICF Next

Jessica Eide
Director of Production
ICF Next

Mitch Helgerson
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Ticket Sales
Minnesota Wild

John Maher
Vice President, Brand, Broadcast and Production
Minnesota Wild

Bridget Johnson
Senior Marketing Manager
Minnesota Wild

Matt Minnichsoffer
Manager, Web and Creative Services
Minnesota Wild