Colorado Avalanche - What I Would Like to See

The Avs have reached the point in their stay here in Denver where they can legitimately start promoting and celebrating their history as a team.  And fortunately they have plenty of glorious history to relive.  And fortunately for the marketing department it came at just the right time.

The 1995-'96 reunion was a sure bet to open the season with a sell out crowd.  The Avs used similar tactics last year with their 10 alumni nights.  But they kinda blew their wad last season.  There are only so many guys they can throw into that bunch.  Note that there are only three such inductions this season.  I bet the Avs sure would like Peter the Great to make up his mind and either get back to playing or retire already.  It's probably not too late to squeeze in another alumni night late in the season.  Get some bad posters printed up and blam!  Instant sell out crowd.

The thing the Avs have quietly instituted here in the last couple years is the concept of premium games.  I don't know when this practice started but I think it's a crock.

So for now we work through the Facebook contests, like the latest "Puck Drop" that was highly touted.  But a better campaign would have been a "Price Drop" policy.

One can dream, no?  If I was in the Avs meeting when this came across the table from the marketing department I would have crossed out 'puck' and written in 'price' as you see above.  Hmmm...I wonder if this even occurred to anyone?

The problem with the Avs current marketing is a well worn topic but allow me a few more moments of your time.

When we went to training camp this year the reps at the tables were dutifully pitching their wares to us.  Buy a pair of tickets and get another pair tossed in "free."  Neato!  Hey Avs, if you are having trouble getting rid of tickets how the Hell do you think I'm going to do any better?  I don't need four tickets to every game.

While it is true that their are deals out there to be had.  Visit the Avalanche Guild for instance, but the Avs themselves are not making much of an effort to get the word out.  The hard-core fans know about them and that's about it.  They need to get these reasonably priced tickets out to a wider audience.

Now last year they started the Guy's Night promo and some other things as the season progressed, and I suspect we will see more of those as the season moves along.  But again, the advertising needs to expand beyond the house channel.  Sure, that is an effective plan to a point, if I'm watching a game and they advertise for a future game I'm waffling about going to and up pops a good deal.  Well, done!  I'm on it.  But wouldn't an ad on some big time stations be appropriate as well?

-From the Point