Gulitti: Devils STILL a Mickey Mouse Organization

[The Rock 07]

The Devils need to broadly expand their merchandise selection. They really have one of the most unoriginal selections I've ever seen. Look at the Cowboys. Their store is literally the size of a department store. And they have 30+ locations across Texas and even into Oklahoma and New Mexico. The malls are struggling to find tenants. Get a cheap rate at Palisades and Garden State. There's a lot of money there. But they have to get creative in the items they sell. The Cowboys sell everything and anything possible that they can slap a logo on. The Devils need to do the same. They have to spread the brand. Get the logo everywhere so that it can't be escaped. Plaster the faces of Bergfors, Parise, Brodeur, Elias everywhere. Especially with the season they're having, they need to get people excited about it and packing the place every night. Everyone in NJ needs to know how well the Devils are doing.

The Devils need to get the Islanders organist/organ. Bar none the best in hockey. And Detroit's DJ really is very good.

They need to do an NJ Devil video with him as the pilot from the 1990's Godzilla when they blow up MSG.

The goal horn and music in general needs to be toned down so you can hear the fans cheer.

Lower seat prices all around. Look at the Flyers prices. They're dirt cheap. Inspeaking of the Flyers, at Pathmark the other day the Flyers logo with a ticket discount is on Orange Crush soda. And this is in Northern Bergen County! Just had to get that out because that pi$*ed me off. The Flyers also have their own milk brand with ticket discounts on them. The Flyers have spread their brand. You can't escape it. That is exactly what the Devils need to do.

They need the players to be out in public more often. Freaking Marian Gaborik is having an autograph signing at Paramus Park here in NJ!

SPREAD THE BRAND

[thelastonealive]

The Devils need to broadly expand their merchandise selection. They really have one of the most unoriginal selections I've ever seen. Look at the Cowboys. Their store is literally the size of a department store. And they have 30+ locations across Texas and even into Oklahoma and New Mexico. The malls are struggling to find tenants. Get a cheap rate at Palisades and Garden State. There's a lot of money there. But they have to get creative in the items they sell. The Cowboys sell everything and anything possible that they can slap a logo on. The Devils need to do the same. They have to spread the brand. Get the logo everywhere so that it can't be escaped. Plaster the faces of Bergfors, Parise, Brodeur, Elias everywhere. Especially with the season they're having, they need to get people excited about it and packing the place every night. Everyone in NJ needs to know how well the Devils are doing.

The Devils need to get the Islanders organist/organ. Bar none the best in hockey. And Detroit's DJ really is very good.

They need to do an NJ Devil video with him as the pilot from the 1990's Godzilla when they blow up MSG.

The goal horn and music in general needs to be toned down so you can hear the fans cheer.

Lower seat prices all around. Look at the Flyers prices. They're dirt cheap. Inspeaking of the Flyers, at Pathmark the other day the Flyers logo with a ticket discount is on Orange Crush soda. And this is in Northern Bergen County! Just had to get that out because that pi$*ed me off. The Flyers also have their own milk brand with ticket discounts on them. The Flyers have spread their brand. You can't escape it. That is exactly what the Devils need to do.

They need the players to be out in public more often. Freaking Marian Gaborik is having an autograph signing at Paramus Park here in NJ!

SPREAD THE BRAND

There's no such thing as a cheap rate at any New Jersey mall. The reason the malls are struggling to find tenants is, in part, because the rates are extremely high in this area. The Mets used to have a bunch of Mets Clubhouse stores in area malls, and if it wasn't financially sound for them to keep them running, no way it works for the Devils. Strictly sports apparel stores keep failing - the only ones still out there are Modells, Sports Authority, and Dicks, all of whom sell equipment and the like, or places like SportsExpress in Livingston, which I believe make their bones with memorabilia.

As far as the autograph signings, have you been in the Marketplace section of the board lately? Clarkson, Rolston, and Greene have all had or will have signings within the past two months. I know for sure there were Parise, Zajac, Zubrus, Greene, Brodeur, Martin, and Oduya signings in the last two or three years throughout the state as well, plus the usual Skrlac and Marshall signings. The organization is pretty good about getting the players out there for signings.

[DaneykoIsGod]

They need to do an NJ Devil video with him as the pilot from the 1990's Godzilla when they blow up MSG.

They had that back at the Swamp. It was a video of NJ going to Manhattan and pushing the plunger for a bomb, then the scene from Godzilla where MSG got blown up. They played it every time the Rags were in town.

[skeeter]

They had that back at the Swamp. It was a video of NJ going to Manhattan and pushing the plunger for a bomb, then the scene from Godzilla where MSG got blown up. They played it every time the Rags were in town.

Yeah, post 9/11 it hasn't been shown.

Also, the Devils used to have Devils Den kiosks at local malls and at Newark Airport during the holidays. I worked at one of them. It was great having Lou sign my paychecks for two months. There were days we didn't sell a thing. 99-00 was the last year they had them.

Edited January 11, 2010 by skeeter

[mouse]

While the team needs to market to everyone, the real money comes from STH. They need to create die hard fans to get more STH, and they're not going to do that by drawing attention away from hockey, which a lot of the external stuff does. Not to say they don't need it, because every team in every sport needs things to keep the casual fans interested. I've gone to a bunch of games with my mom over the years, and she pays more attention to the videos and fan contests than the game. I'm a die hard, but I would have gone to fewer games if my mom wasn't going with me, so teams do make money by entertaining everyone, but they can't go overboard. The Yankees do the best job of any team I've seen. They have some joke things (kiss can, subway race, find the ball under the hat), but they also draw attention to the product in a fun way (blooper vids, plays of the week from around the league, recent Yankee highlights, classic clips, etc.). The Devils highlights from around the league are half assed, and I've never seen a plays of the week video, which I'm sure they could just get from the NHL network. Showing off the best parts of the game is the best way to get people interested in the sport, and that's how to make people want to come back to more HOCKEY games. The only highlight vid the Devils do well is the hit reel. They need to build on that. As HOI said, the time before the game is a good start, as well as in between periods. There is too much dead space there anyway.

[ThreeCups]

There's no such thing as a cheap rate at any New Jersey mall. The reason the malls are struggling to find tenants is, in part, because the rates are extremely high in this area. The Mets used to have a bunch of Mets Clubhouse stores in area malls, and if it wasn't financially sound for them to keep them running, no way it works for the Devils. Strictly sports apparel stores keep failing - the only ones still out there are Modells, Sports Authority, and Dicks, all of whom sell equipment and the like, or places like SportsExpress in Livingston, which I believe make their bones with memorabilia.

As far as the autograph signings, have you been in the Marketplace section of the board lately? Clarkson, Rolston, and Greene have all had or will have signings within the past two months. I know for sure there were Parise, Zajac, Zubrus, Greene, Brodeur, Martin, and Oduya signings in the last two or three years throughout the state as well, plus the usual Skrlac and Marshall signings. The organization is pretty good about getting the players out there for signings.

Other then team events such a Draft Day, most signings have nothing to do with the team (paid ones anyway)....

[Mitico12]

Other then team events such a Draft Day, most signings have nothing to do with the team (paid ones anyway)....

You think the Devils would have learned something from Friday night. The pathetic last minute attempt to upgrade the upper bowl customers to the lower bowl before the third period of last night's resumption match against Tampa was also poorly planned.

I mean, you announce this upgrade two minutes before the period starts. Here you have a few hundred people scrambling for some seats right when the puck drops, making sight lines for the lower bowl people temporarily obstructed. So, not only do people shlep their way out to the Pru Center for a half-of-game, they also now have to waste two minutes of the third period watching people run to their seats like it's a game of musical chairs.

Bad, bad, bad, bad management and planning.

I'm sure the ticket re-scans revealed the actual amount of people in the various sections way before the time of the announcement. Perhaps making an annoucement to this effect prior to Score-O taking place would have been a lot more fan friendly, effective, and added a nice touch..."The Devils would like to invite all upper bowl fans to make their way to the lower bowl prior to the start of the third period. You are free to take any unoccupied red colored seat in the lower bowl. We thank you so much for coming out tonight, and apologize again for the inconvenience caused by Friday night's lighting outage. Go Devils"...or something like that.

As for the Devils marketing, how about making sure that the Devils Den itself is stocked with good sales material (not like most of the crap thats there now), as well as local Modells, Sports Authority, Dicks, Target, Macys, Wall-Mart, etc are equipped with ample Devils stuff???? Is that too much to ask???

[DevilinLA]

Actually, I was quite surprised at how little the devils den had when I visited it for the first time.

I had thought it was goin g be a "mecca" of devils merchandise, but not so much.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the NHLPA licensing deals regarding players and maybe the logo as well.

Or maybe most manufacturers just don't want to bite on Devils merchandise because it doesn't sell as well as other franchise stuff in the area.

[The Rock 07]

There's no such thing as a cheap rate at any New Jersey mall. The reason the malls are struggling to find tenants is, in part, because the rates are extremely high in this area. The Mets used to have a bunch of Mets Clubhouse stores in area malls, and if it wasn't financially sound for them to keep them running, no way it works for the Devils. Strictly sports apparel stores keep failing - the only ones still out there are Modells, Sports Authority, and Dicks, all of whom sell equipment and the like, or places like SportsExpress in Livingston, which I believe make their bones with memorabilia.

As far as the autograph signings, have you been in the Marketplace section of the board lately? Clarkson, Rolston, and Greene have all had or will have signings within the past two months. I know for sure there were Parise, Zajac, Zubrus, Greene, Brodeur, Martin, and Oduya signings in the last two or three years throughout the state as well, plus the usual Skrlac and Marshall signings. The organization is pretty good about getting the players out there for signings.

An article a couple of months ago in the Record said that they wer giving low rates to small businesses to fill in the empty space so I don't see why couldn't do something similar with a Devils Den. The rate they'd get would most likely be better than what the Mets got when the economy was strong. With an improved product line I'm sure that they'd get good traffic.

That proves my point. I consider myself to be a pretty passionate Devils fan and if they advertised better the signings I would have known about them, as would have the casual fans. The ones that I have seen advertised haven't been anywhere near me in Bergen County. Mostly in the Morris County area from what I've seen. They need to expand their reach area to tap into different fanbases.

Edit: Here's the article Independents Day: Bergen Record

Edited January 12, 2010 by The Rock 07

[HellOnICE]

One thing that's always annoyed me too is that the Devils don't sell jerseys usually with names already on them. You walk into Dicks Sporting Goods, you see Rangers jerseys with Lundqvist, Avery, Gaborik. For the Devils you see Brodeur, sometimes Parise, and blank jerseys.

[ThreeCups]

They're giving low rates to small businesses to fill in the empty space so I don't see why couldn't do something similar with a Devils Den. The rate they'd get would most likely be better than what the Mets got when the economy was strong. With an improved product line I'm sure that they'd get good traffic.

That proves my point. I consider myself to be a pretty passionate Devils fan and if they advertised better the signings I would have known about them, as would have the casual fans. The ones that I have seen advertised haven't been anywhere near me in Bergen County. Mostly in the Morris County area from what I've seen. They need to expand their horizons and the brand.

Again, these signings have NOTHING to do with the Devils whatsoever. It is arranged between the appearing player/player's agent and the store. The Devils have nothing to do with the planning or advertising of such events.

[95Crash]

The Devils ... aren't perfect, and dropped the ball Friday, but we're treated well. Arena staff is always helpful/pleasant, which could not be said about CAA. Tickets cost too much, but they run a lot of promotions, plus the 10 dollar line. They throw in some nice stuff, like the band/games in the Championship Plaza during the playoffs last year. They may not always execute well, but they care about the fans. Vanderbeek and Lou were greeting people in the train station last year.

Furthermore, since the recession started, the Devils attendance has held. That's impressive, considering that the season before the recession was also the year the Rock opened, and the team had the benefit of that buzz. In 2007-2008, the Devils drew 15,564 a game. Last year, they drew 15,790. This year (according to ESPN), they are averaging 15,049, but it's been going up lately, and by the end of the season should be closer to the past couple years.

TG may have some valid complaints, but calling the article over the top is an understatement. The post is not quite slanderous, but it is a gross exaggeration to suggest that nothing has changed in the past few years.

This is how I feel about the whole thing too.

[The Rock 07]

Again, these signings have NOTHING to do with the Devils whatsoever. It is arranged between the appearing player/player's agent and the store. The Devils have nothing to do with the planning or advertising of such events.

Then the Devils themselves should organize some. If the team organized some it would bring good PR to the team (have pocket schedules, magnet schedules, and other promotional mix items) in addition to the player himself. The Rangers have been promoting this Gaborik signing at Paramus Park for months on MSG and their website (as per my rag fan friend).

[ThreeCups]

Then the Devils themselves should organize some. If the team organized some it would bring good PR to the team (have pocket schedules, magnet schedules, and other promotional mix items) in addition to the player himself. The Rangers have been promoting this Gaborik signing at Paramus Park for months on MSG and their website (as per my rag fan friend).

Team organized FREE/nominal fee signings would be great. However, it seems they are only interested in doing such events for STHs. It would be good publicity for them to arrange something like this though. More than likely their view is that established fans would be the only ones attending, and it would do little to gain new fans.

[95Crash]

They need the players to be out in public more often. Freaking Marian Gaborik is having an autograph signing at Paramus Park here in NJ!

The guy that owns that sports memorabilia shop, Buddy's, in Paramus Park Mall is a HUGE Rangers fan. He HATES the Devils. He had Lundqvist make an appearance there recently too.

I consider myself to be a pretty passionate Devils fan and if they advertised better the signings I would have known about them, as would have the casual fans. The ones that I have seen advertised haven't been anywhere near me in Bergen County. Mostly in the Morris County area from what I've seen. They need to expand their reach area to tap into different fanbases.

This past season, the Poitin Still Pub in Hackensack hosted a Johnny Oduya/Mike Rupp signing. They also had Clemmensen booked for a signing last season, but it was canceled when he was sent down to Lowell.

[David Puddy]

Team organized FREE/nominal fee signings would be great. However, it seems they are only interested in doing such events for STHs. It would be good publicity for them to arrange something like this though. More than likely their view is that established fans would be the only ones attending, and it would do little to gain new fans.

The point isn't to get new fans, it's to develop fans who buy tickets a la carte into STH. But the Devils seem to be more about withholding perks for STH instead of going out and trying to create buzz.

[ThreeCups]

The point isn't to get new fans, it's to develop fans who buy tickets a la carte into STH. But the Devils seem to be more about withholding perks for STH instead of going out and trying to create buzz.

Well if you know about the STH benefits and still don't buy the ST's, then I guess the incentive isn't there?

[The Rock 07]

Team organized FREE/nominal fee signings would be great. However, it seems they are only interested in doing such events for STHs. It would be good publicity for them to arrange something like this though. More than likely their view is that established fans would be the only ones attending, and it would do little to gain new fans.

I think that the new fans walking through a mall and saw a free signing would do it and the Devils would pick up fans from that. If a person, especially a child got an autograph and met the player, they'd definately follow that player by watching on tv etc then that eventually leads to going to a game and then buying a tshirt or hat. Then they will have a friend over to watch a game and then eventually making him or her a fan and they will buy apparel and the process continues. Resulting in giving money to the team and promoting the brand.

This past season, the Poitin Still Pub in Hackensack hosted a Johnny Oduya/Mike Rupp signing. They also had Clemmensen booked for a signing last season, but it was canceled when he was sent down to Lowell.

Yeah I was going to go to that Clemmensen signing with a friend who I made into a Devils fan by taking him to a game last year and I was disappointed that it was cancelled.

[ThreeCups]

I think that the new fans walking through a mall and saw a free signing would do it and the Devils would pick up fans from that. If a person, especially a child got an autograph and met the player, they'd definately follow that player by watching on tv etc then that eventually leads to going to a game and then buying a tshirt or hat. Then they will have a friend over to watch a game and then eventually making him or her a fan and they will buy apparel and the process continues. Resulting in giving money to the team and promoting the brand.

Yeah I was going to go to that Clemmensen signing with a friend who I made into a Devils fan by taking him to a game last year and I was disappointed that it was cancelled.

I think it would help gain some fans. The team would need to share this viewpoint and organize these events. As someone pointed out, the STH events are great. But they need to have similar events for the public to hopefully sell more season tickets.

[The Rock 07]

I think it would help gain some fans. The team would need to share this viewpoint and organize these events. As someone pointed out, the STH events are great. But they need to have similar events for the public to hopefully sell more season tickets.

Exactly. We have great fans- we just need more of them.

[Derek21]

this really sounds like a rangers move, honestly. it's a good idea, but for a team already having 3 cup celebrations this year, do they really need more reveling in the past?

They have celebrated their Cup teams this year. As long as it's not overboard, flashing back to the past can be worthwhile. Especially for a lot of the young fans who didn't become Devil fans until 2000 or 2003. It doesn't always have to be Cup years either. Show highlights of a huge comeback or great game. That shouldn't be too hard.

[HellOnICE]

They have celebrated their Cup teams this year. As long as it's not overboard, flashing back to the past can be worthwhile. Especially for a lot of the young fans who didn't become Devil fans until 2000 or 2003. It doesn't always have to be Cup years either. Show highlights of a huge comeback or great game. That shouldn't be too hard.

We need to create a culture of diehards, of people who are as knowledgable as anything - these guys will help that. It takes very little effort to do it.

[David Puddy]

Well if you know about the STH benefits and still don't buy the ST's, then I guess the incentive isn't there?

I think the STH events do more to make STH feel they get some insider perks than to attract new STH.

[CRASHER]

I think the STH events do more to make STH feel they get some insider perks than to attract new STH.

I think NOT having discount deals like college nights and a black Friday sale, so that you know... the actual loyal STH get access to the best ticket discounts avaialble in the arena.... hey THAT might be a neat idea ya??

[Triumph]

I think NOT having discount deals like college nights and a black Friday sale, so that you know... the actual loyal STH get access to the best ticket discounts avaialble in the arena.... hey THAT might be a neat idea ya??

it's worked so far!