Much of Chicago is going crazy these days with Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Fever! People who normally would have no interest in hockey are wearing Blackhawks jerseys and hats on Michigan Avenue the city’s famous statues are draped in Blackhawks paraphernalia games all season long have been sold out and you can’t turn on your TV or pick up a newspaper without being inundated with Stanley Cup coverage.

While Stanley Cup hysteria may not be unusual in Canada and some select U.S. cities it is very unusual to see this level of excitement in Chicago for a hockey team. Sports hysteria of this degree is normally reserved for the Chicago Bears Bulls White Sox or Cubs. Whether you are a hockey fan or not how this unlikely “Hawks Hysteria” took over Chicago is a very interesting marketing case history that offers several valuable lessons for MarCom professionals.

Since the mid-1960s the Blackhawks have had trouble filling even half of the stadium seats for most of their games. Even though the team went to the Stanley Cup finals in the early 1970s and 1990s interest in hockey and the Blackhawks had steadily declined to the point that it was a distant afterthought to all but the most die-hard hockey fans. In 2004 ESPN named the Blackhawks “the worst franchise in professional sports” and there were rumors circulating that the team might not survive.

However the perfect storm for the Blackhawks occurred in 2008 when new management came in and placed a premium on marketing. The new owner Rocky Wirtz made a commitment to revive the franchise and to acquire the best talent he could find both on and off the ice. One of his key moves was hiring John McDonough President of the Chicago Cubs to become President of the Blackhawks. McDonough had a reputation for being an innovative and aggressive marketer that could take a team that hasn’t been to the World Series in over 100 years and sell out every game. Here are some of the classic marketing strategies that McDonough and the Management Team implemented to build the Blackhawks into the highly successful sports franchise they are today:

• Partnership Marketing - McDonough used his links with the large Cubs fan base and formed partnerships with the White Sox and other Chicago sports teams to begin promoting hockey through events like “shoot the puck” at their home games . Through a series of innovative cross promotions with several Chicago teams and corporations the Blackhawks focused on selling hockey to people who are already avid sports fans.
   
• Savvy Media Partnerships - The Team worked out an innovative arrangement with Comcast Sportsnet Chicago and WGN TV Chicago to broadcast the Hawks games and to do on-air promos throughout the year. They also increased their newspaper and radio ad budgets with bold compelling ads featuring some of the young new stars to communicate that they were once again competitive.
   
• Aggressive PR Campaign - A strategic PR campaign built around the young new stars and how “fan-friendly” the team was becoming soon begin appearing on a regulars basis in all the Chicago area media. Small news stories about the Blackhawks that used to appear infrequently in the back of the sports sections were growing into major page-one feature stories. TV and radio sports announcers began covering the games and reporting on the rejuvenated team.
   
• Community Outreach - Beyond the partnership marketing efforts mentioned above) the Hawks also brought back some of the Hall of Fame players from their last Stanley Cup Championship Team of 1961 as Team Ambassadors. Bobby Hull Stan Mikita and others began making appearances at various community and charitable events around the city. This brought some older fans back attracted some new young fans and generated a wealth of media coverage every time they appeared.
   
• Social Media - Tapping into the new media and the young players who love to Twitter the Hawks regularly keep their fans updated on current events via Twitter Facebook and You Tube.
   
• Direct Marketing - Although I’m not on their mailing list I understand that the Blackhawks have a very effective direct mail campaign to current season ticket holders former and prospective fans that includes special offers three-dimensional mailers and both an electronic and printed newsletter.

Whether you are a sports fan or not the lesson to be learned here is that it is possible to revive your products and perhaps your entire organization by following the same six marketing communication strategies used by the Chicago Blackhawks - hopefully the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions.