The Rise of the Seattle Kraken: A Lesson in Customer Engagement

How do you win over fans for your pro hockey team? Send them to the penalty box, of course. On this episode of The Whole Idea Podcast by DCG ONE, Kyle Boyd, senior director of fan development for the Seattle Kraken, joins host Greg Oberst to share the team’s unique strategy for fan engagement. Experiential marketing plays a huge role, not just for engagement but also for education, especially important in a market that isn’t historically deep in major league hockey experience.     

Other links you may like to check out:

About us - https://www.dcgone.com/about
Strategy - https://www.dcgone.com/strategy
Technology - https://www.dcgone.com/technology
The Agency - https://www.dcgone.com/agency
Let's connect! https://www.dcgone.com/contact

Email us: podcast@dcgone.com

Check us out on social media:
LinkedIN, Instagram, Facebook

Transcript

December 2025

The Rise of the Seattle Kraken: A lesson in customer engagement  

Greg: 

Should you really be sending brand fans to the penalty box? Well, there's at least one high-profile franchise doing just that. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Whole Idea podcast by DCG ONE. I'm your host, Greg Oberst, and joining me in the studio for this episode is Kyle Boyd, senior director of fan development for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League and the DCG ONE marketing partner. 

Welcome, Kyle. 

Kyle: 

Thank you, Greg. We definitely want to send them to the penalty box. 

Greg: 

Yeah, we'll get to that. We're here to explore fan engagement and marketing for professional sports, particularly the Seattle Kraken, of course, now in its 5th season. But Kyle, your experience with the club goes back 7 years with the club—it takes a while to set these things up—about the time at long last, Seattle got its NHL expansion franchise. But tell me a little bit about the path that led you to the team. 

Kyle: 

It's a long story, but I'll, I'll give you the shorter version of it. I grew up, just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota and played hockey my whole life there. It is the state of hockey, as we like to refer to it back home. So I grew up playing, got to play high school hockey, which is a very big thing in Minnesota with the high school hockey tournament, and then continued, to play in college, and then after I graduated, became a, a teacher and was teaching and coaching, youth. 

I moved out this way to Seattle and was teaching locally, went out to one of the local ice rinks, skating during a skate and bumped into some of the senior leaders from the NHL Seattle. We got to talking a little bit about, growing the game, getting more people involved, some of my thoughts on how to engage the community and that conversation led to more conversations. And so that was spring of 2019, and started with the club in fall of 2019, then NHL Seattle and now the Seattle Kraken. 

Greg: 

A hockey player at heart and, something that's you're passionate about and, and continue to do apparently integrated into your life even after you went into a teaching career. 

Kyle:

Yes, absolutely, and it was one of those things growing up. I always loved hockey, loved the game, and had, you know, thoughts about how we could grow the game, get more people involved, as a person of color growing up in hockey, a predominantly white sport, I was always thinking about some of the things that I wanted to see, as a person of color, as a fan of color, for an NHL club to do. So it's been an honor and a privilege to get to work with the kraken and implement some of those ideas. 

Greg: 

Now, did I hear you say you went to state tournaments in high school? 

Kyle: 

Once upon a time, the Minnesota High School hockey tournament. There's a whole, a whole history there. There's a great little documentary about the All-Hair Hockey Team, which, if people haven't seen that, they can check that out. 

Greg: 

We'll make a note of that hockey team. The All-Hair Hockey Team. OK, so you were a good player then too, sounds like.

Kyle: 

Yeah. I did okay. 

Greg:

OK, let's talk about the Kraken for a little bit from a fan perspective. What were some of the considerations and unique challenges you faced as you prepared for that opening day of the inaugural season? 

Kyle: 

Yeah, I think from a branding, really, brand awareness was something that we really wanted to tackle as we headed into our, our opening day and inaugural season. We call Seattle, in terms of an NHL market, a non-traditional hockey market, meaning that we have obviously a number of fans, through the WHL clubs that are in Washington and across Washington in the Pacific Northwest, but we don't necessarily have a full hockey pathway from people who are very young, to play recreationally, to play very competitively, That's high school or college and then to kind of have a passion and follow a professional team so we're really trying to kind of understand our market very early on and then slowly but surely build brand awareness so letting people know that the Kraken existed that you know the Kraken going to play in Climate Pledge Arena a new arena with the iconic roof at the arena at Seattle Center and so some of the things that we were really trying to hammer home and then trying to get people excited and ready for a full NHL season, which is, you know, 40 or I should say 41 home games 82 regular season games so there's a lot of hockey that we're kicking off in the fall then we would be playing all through the winter and spring. 

So some of those awareness things, letting people know a little bit about kind of the NHL, some of the rivalries, the Pacific Division, really trying to build some of that awareness early on was, was key as we headed into opening day. 

Greg: 

It's interesting you positioned Seattle as a non-traditional hockey market. I think that's fair. However, it must be noted that it was, the Seattle Metropolitans that won the first, were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup title, as I understand it. 

Kyle: 

Yes, that is absolutely correct, in 1917. 

Greg: 

Yes, we're going back a ways all the way back… 

Kyle: 

Yep, absolutely. As a teacher, I have to know that as well. I definitely know the history there. 

Greg: 

So we got that little trophy on the mantle, but you've got to go back a way. No, but you're right, hockey isn't something that's ingrained in the sort of sports mindset here, beyond minor league play, which is very popular. The Thunderbirds give them credit. They've been very popular for many years. OK, so at a high level then today, what's your approach to audience and fan engagement? 

Kyle: 

Yeah, when we think about kind of some of our, some of our approach, some of the things that we would like to see our fans doing and engaging with, again, obviously awareness is a big part of it, but then we want to encourage kind of certain fan behaviors. So we look at five and then I'll and then I'll dive deeper into the one that where DCG ONE really kind of comes in and supports us. Tune In is a big part of our fan behavior. We want people watching the games we've got great broadcast partners who are helping us to make our game even more accessible, which is awesome. 

You know we have some great merchandise so folks haven't seen it, we've got a great primary logo and a secondary logo encouraging people to get a hat or a sweatshirt or a T-shirt or something, that fits them. 

We have our most popular item is actually a tentacle hand kind of like one of those fans that you have and you wave, but it's a, it's a tentacle that people can wear, and so that's been, that's been really fun to see. And so of course we want them to have a little piece of merchandise, maybe come to a game. 

And then we want obviously to encourage people to play hockey, so whether that's learning to skate, getting into ice hockey itself, but figure skating, any winter sport, really just having fun, playing the game, ball hockey, street hockey, very popular, and then following the team across all of our various channels and platforms, signing up for a kids club or following us on social media. 

But ultimately one of the things that my group helps to lead is what we call fan events. So all of our fan events from the beginning of the season and even really in the offseason all the way through to, hopefully what will be an incredible Stanley Cup run one of these days, we really want all of our fans to come and attend those events and. 

The thing that's really important for those events is really compelling opportunities for fans to interact with the brand that's when we get to brainstorm with DCs as well and innovative ideas like the penalty box can walk in sit inside the sense of what it's like to be there for multiple penalties. On the experiential learning -- one of the giant bobblehead which is a size bobblehead and bobblehead, and connecting great fan giveaways which will feature all season long, with something where they might be able to learn about a favorite player, some of the stars of our team, our goalie Joey Decord, Mattie Beniers, etc. So, that's really the goal of having those events and encouraging fans to attend. But once they actually get there, giving them something that they can really interact with, and then dive deeper into learning more about the club. 

Greg: 

These are from the most recent project you're talking about, I think the penalty box, the bobbleheads, we also had, some life-size cutouts and big photo opp there I imagine for fans. 

Kyle: 

Yeah, absolutely. It's tough at the beginning of the season—this helped kick off our opening week, fan event series, and so it's tough at that time to get the players out to an appearance because they're locked in and getting ready for, the upcoming game play. So the next best thing is to work with you all and DCG ONE on life-size player cutouts so fans are able to kind of put their arms around some of their favorite players and, and get those photos that, that they are, are really excited for. 

So, and then creating, as you mentioned, the other backdrops, that help to kind of frame the experience. One of the things that we're constantly thinking about is how do we help bring the experience of Climate Pledge Arena out to the fans so that not everyone obviously is able to come to our games, but how do we bring our games to them, so having great imagery of the arena bowl, having fans, cheering and celebrating, kind of getting those, photos in, in really life size and, and backdrop format so fans can stand in front of them and feel like they were a part of a, a, a memorable game moment even if they weren't physically there, yeah. 

Greg: 

Very shareable experiences too. So you've got not only the fan capturing the moment, but you're giving them an opportunity to share the brand too. It's very eye-catching type of photos. 

Kyle: 

Absolutely, absolutely, and interacting with us on, on social media and any kind of preferred platforms. 

Greg: 

Just staying with this project for a little bit. These, these are very mobile assets, right? So you're traveling around with these. So there's considerations there with product development. 

Kyle: 

Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah. One of the challenges for sure, as I mentioned, is making sure that we're bringing our brand and our game to fans. So where they are is core to all of our development strategies and obviously for fan events that still holds true and so we want to make sure that we Can really pack up an event and move it to where to where it needs to be so there's a lot of creativity and assembling disassembling buildings that are easy for our team and additional support to build on site not necessarily relatively quickly so that we can get an activation up and folks can walk right up and begin to interact with us and so we take them down to Portland, we'll take some items over to Spokane, we'll have items in our, in our arena and on our arena plaza, we've been in downtown Seattle, the East Side, Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, we've been south to Tacoma, up to Everett. 

So it's, it's really some of the, the ideas that we're not necessarily waiting for everybody to come to us here in downtown Seattle at Seattle Center, but that we can also go out to them. 

Greg: 

So beyond the structural engineering that had to go into something like this to make these items durable and what were some of the design that you went through? 

Kyle: 

I think we really thought about having as much imagery as possible. I think that's one of the things when we are in and encouraging folks to interact with. Maybe for the first time we want to put our primary logo up front and our secondary logo up front and so people know what the brand is and what they're walking into but then ultimately, we do want to put a face to the brand as well. 

We want people to begin to recognize some of our top players, to begin to see some of our, our faces as faces in the community, you know, I think that's one of the things that ultimately, we really want to go for, hockey, unlike some of the other. Professional sports doesn't have the visibility of a college or an amateur people are seeing the same faces kind of over and over again on platforms so we do have to do a little bit of work to make sure that our players' names and faces are out there and recognizable the branding and of course there's an iteration and evolution of the brand. 

The latest kind of assets that reflect the fans to the upcoming one of the things that we launched a jersey for the first time we've had a primary jersey and a secondary home jersey we have a third jersey which we'll have in rotation for a number of years moving forward and that jersey is kind of our, our to menace jersey is what we call it or the Abyss jersey. It is black, has some glow in the dark elements as well, connecting to bioluminescence and some other amazing things here in the Pacific Northwest, and so that kit was one that we wanted to make sure connected to the brand and our primary logo as the crest on the front but then took it in a in a different direction and really stood out and so it's an incredible jersey they wear matte black helmets when they go on the ice with that jersey and so any fans who come out to one of those nights, the arena transforms into a different version of the abyss and it's all bioluminescence and glow in the dark and black. 

Greg: 

Well, you can sure see that one of the elements you try to bake in just about everything you do with the Kraken is this idea of fun. I mean, it's sports after all, but you've really taken that fun element and run with it in a really creative fashion for sure. 

Kyle: 

I think our sport is--all professional sports are quite serious in nature, but one of the things about hockey, I think sometimes is that it's, Not as, it's not as connected to everyone's personal lives or everyday lives, and so we want to make sure that we're always having that invitation for fun my team kind of focuses again obviously on fan events themselves but we also lead all of our inclusion initiatives so thinking about how to make our sport, our game, our games themselves more inclusive. 

We run a number of theme nights across the season, that highlight and celebrate different communities, which is incredible, and then we also lead kind of our youth strategy, and school engagement platform so thinking about not only the path to fandom for, adults which is really important for us as we think about, ticket buyers and those who can come to the games, but we also want to make sure that next generation fan feels a connection to the kraken and feels like they can follow this team from a very young age all the way up through their adolescence and into adulthood. 

Greg: 

Well, and you see that a lot in, some of your outreach, your community outreach too, where you're actually teaching the game to, to youth. You've been part of that, from the very start, this beautiful complex that the Kraken built up there toward Northgate included rinks for community, yeah, really important. 

Kyle: 

It's the, it's the largest NHL practice facility within a major city limits, which is something that major US city limits that's something that I'm still really proud of and, and I think that's one of the things that we as an organization are incredibly proud of, in that building there's a, a restaurant and a store and a Starbucks, so we'll have a, there's a Virginia Mason Franciscan Health clinic. 

There are a number of folks who come into the building who don't even get on the ice at all, which is incredible, interact with us in a variety of other ways. And then as you mentioned, yes, there's three ice rinks, our primary practice rinks, we have folks who will come and watch the team practice an incredible opportunity for them to see hockey up close and to really get a sense of the skill and talent that these players have, and those are free and open to the public, which is amazing, and then as you mentioned there's youth hockey skating, there's curling, so there's always a lot of fun happening at the plex and one of the incredible things that we're so lucky to have the PWHL, the Women's Hockey League, the Seattle Torrent going to be sharing some of that with us. 

Greg: 

Nice. Well, from a DCG ONE perspective, I can tell you we've just done an eclectic mix of marketing assets for you. We did an AR experience that put fans on a Zamboni. We created, the opportunity for fans to be in goal with a, a goalie for picture taking opportunities. Huge window graphics during the 2023 playoff run, which was really great fun for the community. 

But I'm wondering, having access to DCG ONE tools for both experiential, that is to say, interactive emotional connections, as well as those immersive experiences that technology can bring us. And being able to account for all those liminal spaces that connect those assets and fans and bridging the physical and digital aspects. How does the influence of a creative agency such as DCG ONE help you as you think about executing your strategy and plan? 

Kyle: 

Yeah, I think one of the things that we have always found really helpful is having some of the time to brainstorm. Elaborate on a on a number of ideas and to really think pie in the sky as big as big as we can and then to start with that and then poke and prod and narrow to what we really what the you know necessary components ultimately will be for any given project and I think that's been really helpful to work with DCG ONE as they work with so many other creative industries and creative partners because they're able to bring us and showcase a variety of examples, they're able to describe different approaches to different concepts, and then the tools that are here, that you all have are, are incredible. 

We can go from thinking about design to then actually thinking about fabrication and and really kind of getting a lot of those voices in the mix early and, and having a lot of them as a part of the discussions has really been, been helpful and then of course the, the ongoing learning and understanding of our brand and where we are and where we want to be, has been really helpful. 

So it's, as you mentioned, we have those early seasons and a great playoff run in year two, to where we are now in year five, but thinking about where we want to be, in year 10 or 15, it's nice to have, a partner that's kind of with us for every step of the way. 

Greg: 

Well, speaking of the future and, and the now, after five or actually seven years now from your effort, how would you describe fan response to your outreach and to the club? 

Kyle: 

Yeah, I would say it's been incredible. You know, one of the things that again that I loved and appreciated growing up in Minnesota is that everybody I knew loved hockey and everyone, around me was, was kind of hockey crazy. And here I feel like I get to meet people all the time who've recently fallen in love with hockey, and people who can really talk about not only what the brand has meant to them, what the team has meant to them, how excited they are to share our experiences with friends and family and others, in their community and become real brand ambassadors for us, which is I think the highest praise that we can get and so you know, as I think about where we are now and kind of where we look to the future is finding out how we continue to tap into that feeling of making people feel like they can go out and share and be an ambassador on our behalf, help bring people to a game, help bring people to an event, share, some of the fun things that we have done in the past that we're going to continue to do in the future as we develop our opening week series, for example, I think those are some of the things that, that, yeah, that I really think about and as we look to the future. 

Greg: 

Kyle, so what have you learned, in terms of fan engagement and even marketing in general about being in the Northwest from your perspective, not having grown up here in the area that you've learned that you've applied to what you do or may have even surprised you a bit? 

Kyle: 

Yeah, I think one of the things that That I've learned and continue to think more and more about is how personal marketing is while of course we're thinking about these brand activations in the biggest sense and wanting to connect with hundreds if not thousands of people when we're when we're out in the community it's really those little moments that really make people help fall in love with the brand.

About our inclusions and theme nights, and we had recently Hispanic Heritage Night, Military Appreciation night, hockey fights Cancer cracking hockey fights Cancer night I should say, and each of those nights, are so important for different constituent groups and they're so important for us as a brand to show that we are of course, you know, dedicated and focused on the product on the ice but we're just as committed to what's happening. 

Off the ice and as people come up to me, they aren't often talking about the you know the product on the ice or the score of the game they're talking about, you know, all that small merchandise piece really meant a lot to me. I was able to get a sticker and share it with a neighbor oh you know this there's a person in my community, who's a member of the military community and they, they always talk about how you all, have such a thoughtful approach to telling their stories and I think those are the things that really have stood out to me how personal the marketing really is and then of course growing up in the Midwest and then moving to the Pacific Northwest, I think one of the things that surprised me is how important it is for us as a brand to show up out in community and in various communities all year round and this is a town and a community and a region where people love being outdoors. 

People love being kind of on the water, you know, on the trails, and they love bringing their fandom with them, and they love and they love that, our brand is able to show up, in a variety of spaces, and I think that's one of the things that, I learned kind of early on we had our expansion draft at Gasworks Park and there was a, a huge, TV on a barge out on the water and a bunch of fans on kayaks paddling. 

Up in July when we had our expansion draft and that was just something that I never really thought of and never really considered until I moved out here that we would want to make sure that we're activating on Lake Union that we're activating ski mountains like Crystal Mountain where we activated last season we'll activate that those places are just as important to us for our brand to be present in a part of just like the arena. 

Greg: 

Yeah, taking the experience out of the arena and into places that matter to people just as well. They appreciate that outreach that you came in. 

Kyle: 

Absolutely. And I think one of the challenges as we think about where we are in sport and where we are in in a sports media and kind of global landscape is that now some of those incredible moments are happening even across not only our region but across different countries and we think about kind of the World Cup. 

Upcoming here, and other kinds of global properties, the NFL playing so many games in Europe and the NHL, just had a global series as well. 

But now, you know, the next generation can grow up as a fan of, a Formula One race car driver, and never having been to a, a, a Formula One race in, in a different country and I think that's, incredibly different and so as we think about, you know, creating our own brand and we're five years and the Seahawks just are celebrating right now year 50, but when we think about where we want to be, in 45 years, I'm thinking about how are we making sure that everyone, whether they are right here in Seattle, down in Tacoma, up in Everett, over in Spokane, Portland, etc., or even, you know, globally, who's fallen in love with the crack and how are we making sure that they continue to follow us and stay connected and how can we make sure that we're bringing, bringing the team to them. 

Greg: 

I've noticed a couple of innovative, at least innovative to me. I'm a big TV sports consumer, but I see the crack in doing a couple of things that I don't recognize in other sports intermission locker room cam. 

And then, in-game player interviews. We've seen coaches interviewed in games lately in other sports, but I was watching the Kraken the other day, I noticed there's a player in that novel to me. 

Kyle: 

Yeah, it's great to have the players, as much as we can, be a part of that access and storytelling, and of course they're focused on sharing kind of real time what's happening in a game. Or something that they did noticed and want to perhaps change as the next periods but when we are able to kind of get them in front of the camera not only humanizes the game but puts a face to kind of what's happening on the ice, but they're able to offer incredible insights that that others can speak to but it's amazing to hear from someone who's who's in action playing in in real time. And then the behind the scenes I think is so incredible, and I think there's been a really important focus on showcasing what's going on, not just on the ice but, around the game, having, the locker room cam, we've done some great features on some of our equipment staff and showing all the work and that it takes to put together sharp skates and pack them up and the sticks and tape everything that they need the behind the scenes stuff has been incredibly captivating for fans because they really want to see all the details and really understand how it all comes together in in an incredible way and so I think that those are some of the things that we've been able to do and I think we're really passionate about continuing to make sure that the behind the scenes becomes something that we're regularly incorporating. 

Greg: 

Kyle, how far into the future does your marketing or engagement plan go? How far out do you look? 

Kyle:

Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. And I do think about our five year, 10 year, and probably 20 years, probably the, the plan that we look at the most and to provide some additional context when we came into the league and played our first season in 2021, the Vegas Golden Knights had started a few years before us, but prior to them there hadn't really been an expansion team in the NHL since the early 2000s and so while the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, some of those clubs might feel relatively new, to hockey fans, they had really been 20 years into, being franchises, if not more, 20 to 30 years into franchises when we first started. 

And so often when we were calling up some of these newer hockey clubs in the in the NHL, your Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, etc. they had kind of 20 if not 30 years of history to kind of call upon and say this is what we have built over these 3 decades. And so for us that was really kind of where our plan started was not just kind of what we wanted to do. 

In the first five seasons, but then what would we be, working on after 10 seasons, after 15 seasons, and after 20. And so that's, that's a bit of our plan again as we think about, the hockey ecosystem, our pathways to fandom, making sure that they're robust across a number of touch points. That's a lot of what we're what we're thinking about, what we're prodding, and then too, I think. 

One of the things that we're always cognizant of as the fan development team in particular is making sure that we have a sustainable fan base. After talking to a lot of clubs, one of the things that's really important to any sport when they get off the ground is ensuring that they have a solid base of customers, of people who are regularly attending games and purchasing tickets, merchandise, etc., but also making sure that we don't lose sight of that future fan because we need to make sure that we are providing compelling content, engaging stories, opportunities, for that next generation to make sure that they are, you know, introduced to hockey at a young age, falling in love with hockey through their adolescence and then as they become young adults and older adults they're able to continue that fandom in the future and so that's a lot of what my group focuses on, which is awesome and then of course when we think about the marketing also making sure that our marketing stays current and relevant for those five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years that we're always thinking about the future of where we're going and how to engage our fans so that we don't necessarily get stuck in a rut of doing the same old thing year after year. 

Greg: 

So it's not just for you about supporting or creating fans of the Kaken. You're trying to create hockey fans in general. 

Kyle: 

Yeah, I think when we think about again some of the other, other teams in market and across the region, the WHL, Everett Silvertips and Seattle Thunderbirds and, the Spokane, Tri-Cities, Portland, Wenatchee has a WHL club now as well. We really think all of these clubs and, and now most recently the, the torrent are all part of our hockey ecosystem and all of them offer incredible pathways for fans to become, passionate about our team, and so those are some of the things that we're really excited about obviously, but also an Olympics year, and every time there's a, there's a Winter Olympics we see an incredible growth in interest across, men's hockey, women's hockey, ice sports, and like I said, speed skating, curling, all the winter sports, and so this February is an incredible opportunity for us to not only get our game, in front of so many non-fans but really Olympics fans, which is great. 

Those are some of the things that we think about as, as fan development as a part of our larger ecosystem, for developing fans and then making sure that all of those people who are new come in and feel like they're welcomed and a part of it, that this is not a, a team or a club that, is exclusionary in any way, but that offers a ton of fun and a ton of opportunities for them to get involved. 

Greg: 

Kyle, I've read a little bit about this Common Thread initiative at the Kraken. Tell me about that. 

Kyle: 

Yeah, the Seattle Kraken Common Thread Program is our inclusion initiative, a year-round campaign focusing on ensuring that a variety of communities that are non-traditional hockey communities feel like they can be a part of our, our team and our fandom. 

One of the things that we look at and all the NHL clubs also look at is ensuring that our, our fan base and our fan demographics more align with the demographics that we see in our cities, in our community, across the United States and of course across Canada as well. 

And so there have been a number of inclusion efforts, again, not just focused around specific game nights but yearlong, whether it's reaching out to local nonprofits, working with local, retailers, local businesses, restaurants, etc., that we can partner with and help to not only introduce them and give them a bit of a platform but also introduce our game and our brand to members of their community and so as I mentioned, kind of one example is our Hispanic Heritage Night and on this night and across all of our nights of which there are nine, and I should mention them so there's hockey Fights Cancer Night, Kraken and Hockey Nights Cancer, Military Appreciation, Hispanic Heritage Night, Indigenous Peoples Night, Pride Night, Green Night, which celebrates sustainability and our sustainability efforts, women in hockey as we think about growing the game amongst that demographic, which is incredibly important for us, Black hockey history and then AANHPI night and so each of these nights, are part of a common thread and we talk about how, we are part of a community tapestry, and we get to celebrate, the variety of threads that connect us all and bring us all together, and in particular through our fandom and so on each of these nights, the arena will really transform in a variety of ways, to help celebrate that community. 

There will be an arena, special guests, concourse activations, and of course a lot of visual branding and we worked with DCG ONE to think about how we're displaying some of our specialty merchandise and we create specialty jersey on each of these nights and so one of the things we talked about was, you know, having a, a photo op experience where folks not only get to see the merchandise up close, see some of the specialty jerseys up close, and have kind of a photo, that celebrates their excitement for the night, but really thinking about how that could be something that also is that that changes and adapts to each of the nights and so the, the locker display in particular has different colors where it can be one night where we focus on Hispanic heritage might have colors lighting that display and kind of highlight the colors in that jersey whereas indigenous peoples we'll have different colors that connect with that jersey and so creating items that are really adaptable has been really helpful with DCG and really helpful for us as we think about how we want to celebrate these nights and celebrate those communities. 

Greg:

Doesn't sound like there's much of an offseason for you, Kyle. 

Kyle: 

No, no, and I will say this too about DCG ONE. We will start, and it's, it's incredible to think about. We will start planning, and ideating and, brainstorming in the middle of this season as we think about next season, that is, that is definitely kind of the, the timeline horizon, because of some of the integral creative work that we'll need to, think about, the experiential work, whether that's digital, as well as in our physical world, but some of that, that digital experience will be something that we're thinking a lot about production and timeline and fabrication. 

So in order for all these things to really marry and come together for opening in September, a lot of it's really being done over the summer. And so a lot of our, our pre-work gets done in late winter I should say in spring so that we're really moving in the summer and things land in the in the early fall. 

Greg: 

We'll be ready. Well, Kyle, it's a very impressive story and congratulations, great work and thrilled to be a partner with you, also great fun. 

Kyle: 

Enjoyed it and been years in the making. I tell people, my first project with DCG ONE was before we even launched the team. We did some school activations. So, it’s been awesome to work with you all for such a long time and it’s great to see how this has all come together. 

Greg: 

Yeah, I agree. Thanks for being here today. 

Kyle: 

Thank you for having me. 

Greg: 

Let's take a look at a few key takeaways: 

• New products or services require new pathways to engagement. Pepper those customer journeys with robust touch points if you can, leveraging multimedia, digital, physical, and experiential connections. 
• Consider taking engagement experiences out of your world and into the everyday worlds of your prospective new fans or customers. Make those experiences memorable and especially easy to share. 
• Make your fans and new customers feel welcome, heard, and included. 
• Sustain your fan or customer base, not just by keeping it in sight, but also by expanding it with an eye out for demographics, communities, organizations, or groups whose missions and values align with your own, and then invite them all in. 

My thanks again to Kyle Boyd, senior director of fan development at the Seattle Kraken. If you have questions for Kyle, feel free to drop us a line at podcast@DCG ONE.com. 

Thanks very much for listening to the Whole Idea podcast. Our producer is Kelsey Brewer. 

I'm Greg Oberst. 

Stay tuned to this channel for more insight and inspiration for Whole Ideal Marketing. 

Take care.