A couple weeks ago I wrote about how the NHL players are using twitter and social media in an attempt to win the PR battle of the NHL lockout. While it appears the NHL’s Nashville Predators (the organization itself, not its players) have taken notice and creatively constructed their own public relations event. The Predators’ coaches, cheerleaders, dance team, anthem singer and announcer surprised two minor league teams in Nashville to create a once in a lifetime experience for the youth players. Here is a video of the “Smash Mob”. (of note: Nashville is popularly referred to as “Smashville” around NHL circles):
Two interesting elements of the video are things we have seen before in marketing campaigns. Surprising youth hockey players is something the NHLPA players have been doing with the #foundaplacetostake campaign (An example here). And the flash mob at a hockey game was popularized last February when Budweiser ran its “Flash Fans” campaign below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0qZYqdsYAg
Initially it might seem as though the Predators are not being very creative, rather just cherry picking other successful ideas. But the video succeeded in going viral after it was picked up by Deadspin (link here) and Yahoo Sports’ Puck Daddy Blog (link here), both are sports blogs with very heavy traffic. One might infer that the move was as much about showing the NHL owner’s have a heart as it was about showing they care about the next generation of hockey fans but either way the by product was a once in a lifetime experience for 30 kids, what’s the harm in that?