BRILLIANT MARKETING PLAN: JUST WIN.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI ANAHEIM Congratulations to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks
Mighty Ducks is a half-hour Disney animated series aired on ABC and The Disney Afternoon in the fall of 1996. Twenty-six episodes total were produced. for pulling off the craziest publicity stunt A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the promoters or their causes. Publicity stunts can be professionally organised or set up by amateurs. Amateur stunts can be trivial or deathly serious. in the history of local professional sports The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. . A month ago, the Ducks were so low in the pecking order pecking order Basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank. For groups of mammals (e.g. of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, franchises, they must have been jealous of the broad popularity of the L.A. Avengers. The Ducks were afterthoughts even in Anaheim, where, as live-entertainment attractions, their games rated behind the Angels, the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and 1,864 topless bars. The Ducks didn't rate Page 1 in the Disney corporate newsletter, where their berth in the NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there playoffs occasioned a Page 7 item about the team's ``celebrity'' fans, the biggest of whom seems to be Jim Belushi. The Ducks might as well have been invisible. You know what most teams would do in that situation. They'd sign a 50-year-old Hall of Famer to attract the curious. They'd slap a logo on some pen-and-pencil sets and mail them to local sportscasters as forget-me-nots. They'd unveil a jazzier jersey, a huger video screen or a spicier hot dog. They'd put on a fireworks fireworks: see pyrotechnics. fireworks Explosives or combustibles used for display. Of ancient Chinese origin, fireworks evidently developed out of military rockets and explosive missiles and accompanied the spread of military explosives westward to show, a Disco Demolition Night Disco Demolition Night was a promotional event that took place on July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was held during a scheduled twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. or an elephant-vs.-donkey match race. But instead of stunts like those, the Ducks have got themselves noticed by doing something that, given their history, is even more audacious. They've played their way to the Stanley Cup Stanley Cup: see hockey, ice. Stanley Cup Trophy awarded annually to the winning team of the National Hockey League championship. Named for its donor, the Canadian governor-general Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston Finals, winning the Western Conference on Friday by beating the Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Their symbol is a bear made to look like the wilderness. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). 2-1 to complete a 4-0 sweep. Now that's creative. A cheap trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, that gained popularity in the late 1970s. The band consists of Robin Zander (vocals, guitar), Rick Nielsen (guitar, vocals), Tom Petersson (bass guitar, vocals), and Bun E. Carlos (drums, percussion). , but it has worked, bringing crowds of fans and reporters back to the Pond, a spot most of us couldn't have found four weeks ago without a Sherpa guide. ``The TSN TSN The Sporting News TSN The Sports Network TSN Targeting Social Need (NI) TSN Tan Son Nhut (Vietnam) TSN Time Since New (Canadian television) guys were saying they were here in January and there were two beat reporters - and the TSN guys,'' Paul Kariya, one of three Ducks remaining from their 1997 playoff debut, said, smiling as he looked around a locker room full of reporters after the team's morning practice Friday. ``I don't think anyone in this dressing room concerned themselves with that. We knew that if we performed well on the ice, we'd get the attention we deserved.'' Why couldn't the Kings come up with that? ``It's all product driven,'' Tony Tavares, the former Disney Sports president, was quoted saying recently. ``That (Southern California) is a place where you can have a great marketing plan, but if you have a poor product, they won't come. And you can have a lousy marketing plan and a great product, and they will come.'' Maybe all of those late, unlamented Anaheim franchises - the Amigos AMIGOS Advanced Mobile Integration in General Operating Systems , the Sun, the Surf and the Rams - could have made it, too, if they'd had the marketing genius to go out and win a few games. Friday morning, the region awoke to find the Lakers out of the NBA playoffs and the Ducks the biggest things in local sports, as hard as all of that might be to get your mind around. When the Ducks began their playoff run by sweeping Detroit, the Stanley Cup holders, everybody noted the Cinderella-story similarities between the Ducks and their Katella Avenue neighbors, the Angels. Now the comparisons are off. The Ducks, by eliminating Dallas and Minnesota, too, have staged the most shocking rise we've seen here since ``Three's Company'' became a hit. They could chide those of us who ignored them, but instead they remain a pleasantly unassuming group of guys who seem to have gotten used to anonymity. ``It's actually really nice to not be in the spotlight all the time,'' said Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, whose shutout streak reached 217 minutes, 54 seconds before Minnesota's Andrew Brunette scored a power-play goal in the first period Friday. ``You don't have to worry about people recognizing you all the time, like in Toronto and Detroit. ``I'm trying not to watch the news. But my family and friends keep calling me (to say they've seen him on TV). It's just part of the process.'' Being invisible must be fun. It doesn't sell tickets, though. Suddenly, the Ducks are the hottest ticket this side of ``The Producers,'' and it's because somebody got the bright idea to start winning. Friday, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,174, the Ducks got two goals from 40-year-old Adam Oates to take a 2-1 lead into the third period. Then they held on during 20 minutes of defense to earn their chance to play for the Stanley Cup. They'll play either New Jersey or Ottawa. They might sell out a few more games. It's Sports Marketing 101. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Ducks captain Paul Kariya accepts the Clarence Campbell Bowl, given to the Western Conference champion, from NHL executive vice president Jon Litner after Friday's win. Chris Carlson/Associated Press |
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