Jul

7

Panthers hire agent to negotiate prices

Filed Under Sports Business News, Sports PR 

A new marketing campaign for the Florida Panthers kicks off today, but you may have already heard about it because the viral campaign began last week. The Panthers teamed up with agent Drew Rosenhaus, who will negotiate lower ticket prices on behalf of Florida’s fans. The organization’s director of public relations Matt Sacco discussed with Yahoo! Sports what the marketing campaign will include.

“Drew is working with us, and the premise of the marketing campaign is that he has been hired by Panthers fans to renegotiate season-ticket pricing with the club,” he said. “He was here yesterday to film two TV commercials and a couple of radio spots, and be involved in a couple of print ads. The campaign is launching next Tuesday, but we’re starting it now virally.”

After looking at his schedule and talking to the NFLPA, Rosenhaus agreed to participate. The campaign will result in some positive PR for Rosenhaus as his proceeds will go to the Diabetes Research Foundation. In the press release announcing the campaign, Rosenhaus stated the following:

“As a longtime Panthers fan and a person who believes in giving sports fans the value and the atmosphere they deserve, I am absolutely thrilled to represent the Cats faithful at the bargaining table,” Rosenhaus said. “That said, this a unique situation for me to represent the fans as opposed to professional athletes. But as a passionate Cats follower, I’ve got my finger on the pulse of the BankAtlantic Center faithful.

How have fans and the media reacted to this campaign?

Sports Business Daily acknowledges the campaign as a smart PR move, citing comments made on ESPN’s ESPN Radio’s Mike [Greenberg] & Mike [Golic] in the Morning show.

Greenberg: “He acknowledges sort of that he’s doing the whole thing with a smile on his face. But at its core this is what I’ve been talking about for as long as we’ve been doing this show. Fans need to organize, they need a leader.” Greenberg added, ”Would any of us have taken note of whether or not the Panthers adjust their prices for this coming season? Of course not. Will we now? … Heck yes! You’re going to know, I’m going to know, the whole country’s going to know because people now are going to follow this.” ESPN Radio’s Mike Golic added, “It’s a smart move” (“Mike & Mike in the Morning,” ESPN2, 7/1).

The Litter Box, a Florida Panthers blog, had this to say on June 30:

You’ve got to love this. Really shows a positive, aggressive (dare we say cutting-edge?) attitude that hasn’t been present with the organization in a long, long while.

It hasn’t been owned up to by the team as a tool, but what a wonderful marketing campaign idea that has attracted tons of attention…and it hasn’t even been officially rolled out.

Yahoo! Sports premiere hockey blog, Puck Daddy, describes it as “an ingenious bit of viral marketing” and conducted interviews with Rosenhaus and the Panthers to learn more about the campaign.

On the other side, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel isn’t that impressed with the campaign.

It’s not real, of course. It’s a marketing ploy. But it’s not just any ploy. It’s the kind that tells you the Panthers have given up. They’re not going to play pretend anymore. They’re letting you in on the joke.

They’re really saying: “We know we don’t have a team to market, or any players you’re interested in watching and no one wants to pay our ticket prices anymore, so let’s push the humor to the outer edges so our fans get a chuckle even if they don’t really understand it.”

Here is the first of many YouTube videos depicting the negotiations:

For any new developments, you probably want to keep an eye on the official Twitter accounts for Rosenhaus Sports and the Florida Panthers.

The organization isn’t afraid to try something new as it fights for recognition in the south Florida market. The Panthers started a First Timer program where they gave away two free tickets to each person with a Florida driver’s license who has never attended a game back in October 2008. In February, they formed an alliance with the New Jersey Nets in the Snowbird Ticket Exchange. The partnership allowed season-ticketholders of both teams to attend the other team’s games should they travel to the other city.

What do you think of the Panthers’ campaign? Hit or miss?

Personally, I think it’s an innovative concept to get fans and the media talking. However, fans just want to see a better team on the ice and until the Panthers can do that, I don’t see a whole lot changing in terms of season ticket sales.

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