N.J. Devils continue to make all the right moves

BY JOE FAVORITO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

ON N.J. SPORTS MARKETING

Is there a professional team in the corridor from Philadelphia through Connecticut that has made more positive branding strides in the last year than the New Jersey Devils?

While the Red Bulls make noise with a new stadium and Thierry Henry, the Nets constantly push for unique promotions and space during their transition, the Yankees make a huge splash with Hero Week and even Philly-area teams like the Union build fan support, the Devils continue to grow both on and off the ice, a combination which each of the other teams (well, except the Yankees of course) lack.

Latest case in point was this past week, when the team announced a tremendous brand extension by bringing minor league affiliate games to Atlantic City, and then donating some of the tickets to the New Jersey Department of Children and Families for use by children in foster care in the Atlantic City area. The same week the team was holding some additional awareness events in their growing territory in northern New Jersey, which continues to show how and where the potential for growth and support lies statewide. Would it be great if this could be combined with a settling of the Ilya Kovalchuk contract? Absolutely. However even with that bump, the team is correctly positioning itself for the casual fan in every corner of a sports crazy state, with no other team to truly call its own.

Also in a time when every organization and group is taking its turn dumping on Atlantic City, the New Jersey Devils rode in with support and a rallying cause. Yes it is only a few games in the darkness of winter, but it gives the businesses in Atlantic City, as well as its residents, something to point to as a positive and could lead to more in the future.

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What Lou Lamoriello built as a great product on ice was never before matched in marketing or grassroots support, and that has now changed. The result could be a great confluence of both superior product, fan and grassroots support that maybe can make the Devils more of a model for professional sports in the area than any other team, if all falls together.

Is there still much to do? Yes, there still needs to be more of an in-season connection to the current players and their stories to the casual fan, and not just to the New Jersey Devils brand overall. There is still potential for great brand growth toward the Pennsylvania border, and definitely into Rockland County, which has always been a hockey hotbed.

However the move to Atlantic City, an area the Flyers once controlled and may not any more, is a great one, and another sign that the New Jersey Devils are continuing to make smart strides at a time when the marketplace is wide open for aggressive growth.

Joe Favorito has over 24 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. Visit him at JoeFavorito.com.