With the NHL season less than a week old, and everyone with the possible exception of New York Islanders fans still expecting big things from their favourite team, the league has introduced two new social media tools that enable fans to demonstrate their support to fellow Facebook and Twitter users.
Developed by the Toronto office of Rocket XL, the two tools are based on fans’ fondness for showing their support for a certain team by posting pictures and team logos, as well as a penchant for engaging in online skirmishes with rival fan-bases.
The Facebook “Profile Pic Generator” enables its users to create a profile picture using their favourite NHL team’s logo and/or their favourite player’s jersey number. Users can also create a banner that uses a customized name and number. Since its launch on Wednesday, the generator has seen more than 1,000 banners created every hour – without any paid media support.
“We’ve noticed that if you give [fans] something that taps into a consumer insight, and if it’s done properly, through the lens of the true fan, it will spread like wildfire,” said Rocket XL Canada’s vice-president, Ian Barr.
Because social media tends to be a long-term strategy for clients, Barr said Rocket XL would also introduce exclusive offers such as limited edition banners and retro logos to maintain fan interest.
The “NHL Twitter Aggregator,” meanwhile, visually displays the fan conversations around a given team, represented as pucks (the larger the puck, the more chatter). The aggregator will show the top 15 most-talked about teams on any given day, while the league will also play fan-bases against each other to create more activity.
In addition to their respective homes, both tools will also be featured on the NHL’s website, NHL.com.
The NHL’s social media agency of record since 2010, Rocket XL is tasked with developing online “tent pole” events on the league calendar, such as the annual Winter Classic, Stanley Cup playoffs and All-Star Game.
