Ice Hockey Gone Mobile...

About the Houston Aeros
The Houston Aeros are an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. Founded in 1994, the Aeros play at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston, Texas.

The Challenge
The Aeros were looking to reach a larger fan base with their marketing strategy in order to promote upcoming games and drive ticket sales. The team was looking for a quick and easy way to reach a great number of their loyal hockey fans at once. Additionally, the Aeros wanted to tie in an attractive in-game promotion as a marketing tool to further reach out to the crowd. Looking toward the future, they wanted to see some immediate results.

The Solution
Mozeo worked directly with the Houston Aeros to help the hockey team develop a creative marketing strategy. Mozeo’s services allowed the Aeros to seamlessly tie together an in-game promotion with their future marketing plans. During a home hockey game, the Aeros and Mozeo had a “text-to-win” contest, with the prize being a hockey stick signed by the entire team. The crowd was instructed to text the word “AEROS” to a special number, and then a winner would be selected at random. By gathering the mobile phone numbers of the respondents, the Aeros automatically built their database of contacts, and could then use Mozeo’s online portal to easily send text blasts with information about upcoming games, promotions, and other important updates.

The Results
This strategy resulted in an overwhelming success. The contest for the signed hockey stick was a huge hit. The Aeros saw a 17% participation rate, which included a crowd with a wide age spread. The Aeros then used Mozeo’s text blasting service to reach their newly-established mobile customer base. A week after the promotion, the Aeros followed up with their new contacts by sending a text message with a discount code for an upcoming game. The code resulted in 54 additional tickets being sold. This discount code not only drew fans to the game, but it also served as a measurement tool to see how many of the mobile contacts would act on the discount. With continued promotions and text blasting, the Aeros have seen greater turnout at games and higher ticket sales than they did before teaming up with Mozeo.

Future Plans
After the great success of an attractive in-game promotion coupled with an effective marketing strategy, the Aeros continue to work with Mozeo to expand their database of mobile numbers. By continuing to reach their loyal fans instantaneously, the Aeros will be sure to drive future ticket sales and attendance at their hockey games.

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