The Los Angeles Kings Score a Digital Marketing Hat-Trick: Greater Revenue, Retention, and Fan Loyalty

All-Star Team of Neolane and FanOne Marketing Help Stanley Cup

Champions Increase Customer Knowledge and Deliver Personalized Fan

Experiences

Customer name: Los Angeles Kings

Industry: Sports & Entertainment

“Thanks to Neolane and FanOne Marketing, the LA Kings have been able to increase revenue, retention, and fan loyalty—and do so while maintaining an efficient, lean marketing team.”

Aaron LeValley, Director of CRM, LA Kings

BUSINESS NEED

The LA Kings sought to increase revenue, retention, and loyalty in a competitive market by integrating multiple data sources and leveraging its customer intelligence to drive targeted, personalized marketing campaigns.

RESULTS

• Enhance customer intelligence by creating a single, 360-degree view of fans

• Increase revenues and ROI by delivering personalized experiences across channels

• Automate marketing campaigns, driving greater results while maintaining lean operations

• Increase online season ticket renewals 10%, reallocating human resources to higher priorities

• Build the database via social media, transforming anonymous followers into addressable contacts

Owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) the Los Angeles Kings are a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise founded in 1967. Overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, the Kings won their first NHL Stanley Cup in 2012, becoming the first 8th seeded team in NHL history to do so.

Challenge: Disparate Fan Data and Limited Capabilities for Driving Targeted Messages

Since winning the Stanley Cup, the LA Kings’ popularity has soared, with season tickets expected to sell out for the first time in their history. However, in Los Angeles, hockey has traditionally been challenged to compete with other professional sports, including basketball and baseball.

Thus, although the LA Kings have a passionate core fan base, their marketing department was tasked with finding ways to generate new sales while increasing retention and loyalty in a competitive market. When Aaron LeValley, Director of CRM, joined the team in 2009, he began thinking about how they could work smarter through better customer knowledge and technology.

At the time, the LA Kings were using CRM and email marketing tools provided by their ticketing vendor. Because the team couldn’t integrate multiple data streams (transactions, campaign responses, web behavior, forms, social media activity, etc.), they had a fractured and incomplete view of their fans. Moreover, the email tool offered limited segmentation and personalization capabilities.

“Like other professional sports teams, the LA Kings offer multiple products, including single game tickets, multi-game packs, group tickets, season tickets, merchandise, and more,” said LeValley. “Without a single, comprehensive view of fans’ behavior and interests, we were limited in our ability to tailor these products to the right individuals or groups, and then engage them with targeted marketing messages.”

Solution: Open Platform and Powerful Personalization Engine Backed by Strategic Services

The LA Kings evaluated several marketing automation platforms against a specific set of criteria that included the ability to create a central marketing datamart; track individual behavior and responses; and execute automated cross-channel campaigns that deliver personalized fan experiences.

Based on this evaluation, Neolane’s conversational marketing platform was chosen over other leading automation platforms. The decision boiled down to a few key factors, including Neolane’s open API, personalization engine, cross-channel capabilities, and future-proof platform, as well as the deep industry knowledge of partner FanOne Marketing.

“Neolane and FanOne Marketing offered the winning combination of robust technology powered by strategic services,” explains LeValley. “Neolane’s open API was crucial to integrating disparate data sources and better understanding our fans. Plus, we knew the platform could support our increasing marketing sophistication over time. Lastly, FanOne Marketing’s

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“Neolane and FanOne Marketing offered the winning combination of robust technology powered by strategic services. Neolane’s open API was crucial to integrating disparate data sources and better understanding our fans. Plus, we knew the platform could support our increasing marketing sophistication over time.”

understanding of our business far exceeded other marketing service providers.”

Results: Personalized Fan Experiences Drive Greater Revenue, Retention, and Loyalty

Drawing from their combined knowledgebase and partnership, the LA Kings and FanOne Marketing have worked closely to design and execute marketing campaigns in Neolane, including subscriber welcome campaigns, pre- and post-game communications, season ticket renewals, seasonal promotions, lead nurturing, and more. The platform’s workflow engine has brought greater automation and efficiency to their marketing operations. Moreover, centralizing fan data in Neolane has allowed the team to increase targeting sophistication, which has, in turn, boosted relevancy and results.

For instance, the LA Kings developed a behavior-based workflow for its holiday pack campaign that automatically segmented individuals who exhibited behaviors for a series of follow-up messages. The campaign generated more than $70,000 in revenue, with the second email doubling the revenue of the first and the third email to “clickers” generating the highest return per send. This campaign was launched within two months of implementation and showcased the effectiveness and a quick, positive ROI for LA Kings executives.

The LA Kings are also using Neolane to drive online season ticket renewals. In addition to sending targeted emails, the team has created a personalized URL and microsite for each season ticket holder that contains savings and benefits info along with fun, engaging content. As a result of this initiative, online renewals are up 10% to their highest level, which has freed sales reps to focus on higher risk accounts.

Thanks to greater marketing effectiveness plus a popularity boost stemming from the 2012 Stanley Cup, the LA Kings are on the verge of selling out of season tickets. Once

that milestone is reached, marketing will focus on building a waiting list and keeping those fans engaged through multi-touch nurture campaigns.

“Thanks to Neolane and FanOne Marketing, the LA Kings have been able to increase revenue, retention, and fan loyalty—and do so while maintaining an efficient, lean marketing team,” said LeValley.

Looking Forward: Social Marketing, Lead Scoring, and Tighter CRM Integration

The LA Kings have begun exploring ways to unlock value from their social media audiences using Neolane Social Marketing. For instance, the team launched a campaign aimed at acquiring new fans from Twitter. Followers received a Direct Message with a contest; in order to enter to win, they had to complete a brief form and provide their name, email, and Twitter handle.

“The Twitter campaign generated a 6-7% response rate, netting hundreds of new contacts in our database,” notes LeValley. “The key is that we were able to identify anonymous followers, make them marketable via other channels, and start assigning them value.”

To further optimize sales, the LA Kings are building a lead scoring model that incorporates demographic, transaction, and behavioral data to identify fans with the highest propensity to buy. Plans are also underway to migrate to a new CRM system that would allow for bidirectional synchronization with Neolane. Armed with each fan’s score and complete interaction history, sales and service reps will be able to better prioritize their efforts and engage in informed conversations.

Based on the tremendous success the LA Kings have had using Neolane, parent company AEG is planning to bring the LA Galaxy, of Major League Soccer, onto the platform.