ONE HISTORIC NIGHT.
45,021 FANS.
An integrated digital marketing and ticket sales campaign helped bring 45,021 fans together for a historic outdoor hockey experience at the University of Minnesota.
More than a hockey game.
On January 17, 2014, the University of Minnesota hosted the Hockey City Classic at TCF Bank Stadium: an outdoor doubleheader featuring the Gopher women against Minnesota State and the Gopher men against Ohio State.
With outdoor Gopher Hockey returning after approximately 80 years, our challenge was to turn a rare sporting event into an experience that resonated with multiple audiences—and to connect that excitement to ticket purchasing opportunities.
MY CONTRIBUTION
Developed campaign copy and segmented email messaging; built emails and coordinated scheduling; directed creative and approved graphics; supplied web assets and placement direction; collaborated with ticket sales on group and experience packages and outreach scripts.
Final email deployment and website publishing were completed by other team members.
WHO ARE YOU MARKETING TO
Different audiences. Different reasons to attend.
Instead of sending one generic ticket message to everyone, we used existing customer relationships and purchase histories to develop distinct email messaging for different segments.
Each audience received messaging written for its relationship with Minnesota Athletics, rather than across the board “buy now” copy.
THE JOURNEY
From awareness to attendance.
ORIGINAL EMAIL
Lead with the story. Make the next step clear.
This initial email introduces the historic outdoor doubleheader, establishes the date and matchups, and directs fans to the ticket on-sale destination. The message balances excitement with practical information and a clear action.
My role: Campaign copy, email build, creative direction and coordination of distribution scheduling.
AWARENESS CREATIVE
Build recognition. Create anticipation.
“Gophers Belong Outside” ties this historic sporting event to school spirit and was easy to keep fresh with introducing player graphics and fan imagery while keeping the same bright campaign color scheme. It worked as an awareness focused companion to the more information heavy ticketing communication. These graphics were used in emails, digital ad placement, web tiles, and video boards.
My role: Messaging and creative direction, collaboration with graphic designers, and final creative approval.
WEBSITE & DIGITAL PROMOTION
Keep the path to purchase visible.
These Web tiles reinforced the event identity while making the matchup, date, time and event website immediately clear. I supplied the assets and directed where they should appear on the athletics website.
My role: Copy, creative approval, asset delivery and web placement coordination.
EMOTIONAL STORYTELLING
Make history feel unmissable.
This promotional video and subsequent behind the scenes video were created to build anticipation around a rare outdoor hockey experience, not simply announce another game. I developed the storyboard, produced the video and held final creative approval. We distributed it through social media and video boards at other Gopher sporting events to create an emotional connection and a fear of missing out.
Distribution: social media and in-venue video boards
My role: Storyboard · Production · Final creative approval
SALES INTEGRATION
Marketing and Ticket Sales working together
I collaborated with the ticket sales team to develop group and experience based ticket packages and contributed to sales scripts for outreach to leads. This connected the campaign’s audience specific email messaging with conversations happening beyond the inbox.
THE EVENT OUTCOME
45,021 People Showed Up.
The Hockey City Classic drew 45,021 attendees to TCF Bank Stadium. This was the largest attendance at a hockey game in Minnesota history at the time. The men’s team defeated Ohio State 1–0 in sub 0 temperatures, closing a historic night for Minnesota Hockey. The event helped demonstrate the appeal of outdoor hockey at TCF Bank Stadium, which would later host the NHL Stadium Series in 2016.
• Web traffic uncreased by 54.49% on GopherSports.com & MyGopherSports.com from previous year
• Men’s Hockey Schedule web page traffic increased by 92.75% from previous year
• Men’s Hockey Home Page was the 2nd most viewed page and the Men’s Hockey schedule page was the 3rd most viewed page in the Gopher Sports domain over both Football and Men’s Basketball
THE TAKEAWAY
Technology evolves. The customer journey still matters.
This campaign reinforced an approach I continue to use: understand the audience, build relevant messaging, coordinate the channels, and connect marketing to a meaningful business objective. Today, I’d pair that same foundation with deeper CRM integration, automated journeys, behavioral segmentation and more precise conversion attribution.
