Worst to first: The rocky road back to relevance

Author’s note: Jacobs & Clevenger doesn't have a flag. But if we did, the motto on it would probably read, “No Easy Projects.” We live for the toughest marketing challenges. That's why the following story inspires me. I hope it will do the same for you.

The truth hurt. Deeply. I knew that my favorite brand was on thin ice. But a scathing article brought the cold facts home: “Bad hires. Archaic thinking. Stagnation.” ¹ Ouch.

But this wasn’t just any brand. It was my beloved Chicago Blackhawks. And in 2006, according to ESPN, my favorite team was the “worst franchise in sports.”

How did this travesty happen? First, let’s take a step back.

When I was younger, the Blackhawks were arguably the most popular team in the rabid Chicago sports market. We all had the jerseys of our favorite players. Hull, Makita and Magnuson defined one generation. Savard, Chelios and Roenick unified the next. Season tickets were passed along as treasured family heirlooms. Playoff tickets were impossible to get.

Suddenly, all that passion was in the past.

The Hawks had become irrelevant – a marketer’s worst nightmare. The United Center was a lonely place on game nights. Even the Chicago Tribune had abandoned the team; the newspaper no longer assigned a beat reporter to cover the Hawks. But all of that paled compared to the deepest cut: home games were not shown on television. The fear was that televising games would alienate the season ticket holders. The truth was that no TV exposure meant that the team and the game of hockey were not on the radar for the young prospects that the Blackhawks needed most. And the numbers proved the point. By 2006, the Blackhawks’ season ticket base had plummeted to around 5,000.

Clearly, the brand needed to reinvent itself. The team on West Madison Street had to recapture its old customer base, attract new prospects, use different channels to get its brand back into the mindset of the city and establish a truly relevant identity. In short, the Hawks needed a miracle on ice.

Like many brands that resurrect themselves, the road back to relevance started with fresh thinking. In this case, the transformation was sparked by a rising executive with a degree in Communications. William Rockwell Wirtz took over the team from his late father in 2007.

Everyone called him “Rocky,” and he was certainly in for a fight to bring his franchise back to the forefront. But Rocky had an expansive vision to answer his big challenges.

It started with televising every contest, especially the home games. This would help to re-engage “abandoners” and would expose a new audience to the team. The team also rehired Pat Foley as its play-by-play man. Foley was a fan favorite, who had been let go by the previous regime. His return generated headlines and began a healthy social media buzz about the once frozen franchise.

The Blackhawks also pulled off a coup by hiring John McDonough from the Cubs as the team President. McDonough had launched Major League Baseball’s first fan convention with the Cubs, a move that became standard practice and a major revenue stream across the sport. Leveraging this success, McDonough quickly began plans for the first Blackhawks fan convention.

Next, the team began mending fences and re-establishing its precious heritage. Bobby Hull and Stan Makita were welcomed back as Team Ambassadors, triumphantly riding into the United Center in a vintage convertible. This masterstroke move made a clear statement to embittered fans that they were being welcomed back as well.

On the ice, the young talent began producing and those emerging stars were heavily marketed. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane became the Hull and Makita of a new generation. And sales of their number 19 and 88 jerseys skyrocketed. (My own Toews jersey is now in very good company alongside my cherished Keith Magnuson sweater).

By the time the Hawks raised the Stanley Cup in 2010, the team had exposure, excitement, new fans and a forward-thinking management team. But the true vindication occurred in 2014, when Forbes Magazine ranked the Blackhawks’ fan base as the most loyal in hockey.²

That declaration meant two things. The rocky road back to relevance was complete. And playoff tickets are impossible to get once again.

I hope you enjoyed the story of one seemingly impossible marketing challenge. If you have one on your hands, here’s some good advice. Talk to J&C. We love those tough challenges just as much as I love my favorite team.

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