With hockeydom reveling in the crowning of new Stanley Cup champions, brands remain busy trying to find every nook and cranny to reach hockey die hards. It’s a given that viewing parties at homes and in bars are strong venues to develop an association with the country’s favourite sport, and new research shows where the best opportunities on those fronts may lie.
Environics Analytics cross-referenced its PRIZM5 demographic data on income and spending habits with PMB‘s research on the regions with the densest accumulation of Cup watchers. The result, the company said, is a list of products, stores and restaurants that Canada’s biggest hockey fans tend to favour (when compared to the national average).
“Although hockey fans come from all walks of life (and socioeconomic levels and geographies), similarities emerge among the biggest fans,” said Daniel Heuman, the company’s vice-president of custom research. “An analysis of Stanley Cup viewers by PRIZM5… shows that they tend to be older, wealthier and more likely to live in urban and suburban areas.”
Heuman said regions of the country that report higher-than-average Cup viewing tend to be populated by wealthy, middle-aged and older families (a group Environics labels “Cosmopolitan Elite”), middle-income urban seniors (a.k.a. “Grey Pride”) and mature middle-income homeowners (or “Second-City Retirees”). And their shopping and restaurant habits are well defined.
Where They Shop for Groceries
- Walmart
- Costco
- Loblaws/Loblaws Superstores
- IGA/IGA Extra
- Sobeys
- Metro/Metro Plus
- No Frills
- Safeway
- M&M Meat Shops
- Real Canadian Super Store
How They Snack
- Potato chips
- Chocolate bars
- Nuts/seeds
- Popcorn
- Corn/tortilla chips
- Natural cheese
- Crackers
- Ice cream/frozen yogurt
- Sliced meat
- Cookies
While we’re on the subject on snacking, Heuman’s note to Marketing included some insight from deeper into his data pool. While not every brand on these lists may be healthy exactly, “research also shows that Stanley Cup fans are hardly couch potatoes,” he said. “When they’re not watching the playoffs, they’re active themselves — biking, swimming, jogging and dancing all at high rates. And that may be the secret to engaging these viewers: to be most effective, your marketing message may have to reach them when they’re away from their TV sets.”
What They Drink
- Domestic beer
- $10-$14 bottle of wine
- Vodka
- Rum
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Merlot
- Cordials/liqueurs
- California wine
- Coolers
- Rye/Canadian whisky
Where They Eat
- Tim Hortons
- McDonald’s
- Subway
- Boston Pizza
- A&W
- Swiss Chalet
- Starbucks
- The Keg
- Wendy’s
- Dairy Queen
For kicks, here’s the map showing how various regions compare on Stanley Cup viewing, as created by PMB and Environics Analytics’ data.
Share of Canadians who watch the Stanley Cup Finals, compared to the national average of 33.6% (index=100)
Red: Finals Fanatics (high index: >110)
Yellow: Puck People (above-average index: 100-110)
Green: Lukewarm about Ice (below-average index: 90-100)
Blue: What Else is On? (low index <90)
Sources: Environics Analytics 2015, based on PRIZM5 and PMB.
