On New Year’s Day 2016, the Boston Bruins will face off against the Montreal Canadiens in the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. In the battle of promotion on social media, the Bruins are clearly leading the race when it comes to team accounts on social media according to our friends at MVP Index.
Across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; the Bruins have posted a total of 184 times with total likes and retweets of more than 507K. Twitter has seen the bulk of the Bruin’s promotional social media posts with 117 total since June 1, averaging almost 62 retweets per tweet; but the winner in post engagements goes to Instagram. The 28 total posts from the Bruins around the Winter Classic average 16,132 likes/photo on the photo sharing platform. Of all social media content around the Winter Classic posted by teams, the Bruins’ Instagram holds the entirety of the top 10 posts when ranked by engagement.
The number one team post about the Winter Classic and its merchandise.
The Canadians are doing their part to promote the Winter Classic, but not nearly as frequently as the Bruins at only 63 total posts promoting the upcoming game. Their 51 tweets are less than half that of the Bruins, and average 22 retweets less engagement per tweet. It seems the home team has more of an incentive to promote the Winter Classic than their opponent. The Canadiens do see the value of Instagram, as they’ve promoted the Winter Classic 9 times on the platform, averaging 9,361 likes per photo. The Canadiens average Winter Classic post on Instagram received more than 5,306 likes per photo more engagement than their only promotional post on Facebook.
The Canadiens do have a great ambassador for the Winter Classic in PK Subban. The 26 year-old defenseman is using the Winter Classic and the special sweaters made for the event to help raise money for his charity PK’s Helping Hand. Subban has used his power as MVPindex’s 5th ranked NHL Digital Brand ambassador to call attention to his charity by selling signed jerseys with proceeds going to his charity. Subban’s posted 8 times to Instagram promoting the Winter Classic jersey sale, averaging 13,305 likes per photo with his most popular post bringing in over 22K likes.
Overall, between promotion of The Road To the Winter Classic on EPIX and all the digital platforms, the work NBC does in showcasing the game itself, the fact that both clubs are battling atop of Eastern Conference standings, and the massive crowd at Foxboro on a day sandwiched between college football’s biggest stages, this year’s game should continue to draw the hype and large footprint that has made The Winter Classic the signature event for hockey at least in the United States. having two “Original Six” clubs ad a star like Subban doesn’t hurt, nor does the increased social footprint by both. Even with just one U.S. market in the game this year, it should be another attention-grabber for hockey as casual fans tune in and log on to what has become an annual “must watch” on New Year’s Day
