Minor League baseball scores lots of points for continual brand activation, market relevance, and sponsor integration. But in many places, minor league hockey activation is not far behind. Without the cache of warm summer nights, larger support of a parent organization or huge name recognition and media exposure, the minor leagues of North America press on and have some unique promotions that stand alone. One of which was this past weekend, when the Manchester (NH) Monarchs of the AHL held “Rock The Mullet Night.” The Monarch's own version of turn back the clock came complete with live ’80's music, free mullet headresses to the first 3,000 in the building, and a great poke fun at some of the hockey greats who donned mullets back in the day. Complete with sponsor integration, the game drew over 7,000, gained some great national exposure (including an SI mention) and showed how much fun minor league hockey can be for brand partners and fans. Well done by the Los Angeles Kings farm team, who has developed a reputation for being cutting edge in winter promotions and large scale community support.
Some other good reads…Octagon's First call blog has the results of their reality TV survey…the site Sports Media Journal has a worthwhile poll on how old and what the background is of most sports bloggers…Yahoo News had a report on what ten newspapers could fold next…and Joe DaAvila in the wsj has a look at where the digital world fits today in sports…
