Q&A: Verizon’s VP-Sponsorships Talks NHL Partnership, Enhanced Fan Experiences

“When it comes to the impacts to fans and activations, we’re going to start treating this at the same level that we treat the NFL. We’re showing up big at the NHL Stadium Series; we have big plans for the draft and the Stanley Cup. When the calendar of the NFL wraps up, we still have three or four months of probably the most exciting time with hockey to keep up that momentum we have.”

–Nick Kelly, VP-Sponsorships, Verizon

<div>Q&A: Verizon’s VP-Sponsorships Talks NHL Partnership, Enhanced Fan Experiences</div>

Verizon customers can win seats in the brand’s Hotspot section at MetLife Stadium.

With hockey season in full swing, Verizon announced the renewal of a multiyear sponsorship with the NHL on Feb. 15, continuing the brand’s role as the league’s Official 5G Partner, Official Wireless Services Partner and Official Mobile Edge Computing Partner in the U.S. Additionally, as an Official Technology Partner for the NHL, Verizon will deploy Verizon Private 5G Wireless Network across hockey arenas to help game-day operations.

As part of the partnership extension, Verizon is putting more of a focus on engaging hockey fans with a robust experiential marketing strategy that kicked off with the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series, Feb. 17-18, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Verizon activated at the event’s tailgate festival, the New Amsterdam Vodka NHL PreGame, providing hockey fans with a slap shot challenge, charging stations, comfortable seating, photo ops and prize giveaways.

A cold weekend at the open-air stadium that’s home to the New York Jets and New York Giants, Verizon gave new meaning to the mobile hotspot and warmed up customers with complimentary hot chocolate in the Hotspot Lounge on the 100-level concourse. All they had to do to get in was show off their Verizon phones. By scanning a QR code, customers also had a chance to win upgraded game seats in the brand’s exclusive Hotspot section, which included heated seats, cozy blankets and gift bags. (Agency: Giant Spoon)

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Moving away from static brand messaging, Verizon is aiming to amplify its partnership through enhanced fan experiences—like the dedicated tailgate, lounge and section at the NHL Stadium Series—and surprise-and-delight moments and giveaways that win over consumers.

“The days of us just throwing up a Verizon logo are quickly behind us and are moving much more into showing the value that we are providing customers,” Nick Kelly, vp-sponsorships at Verizon, told EM.

We spoke with Kelly ahead of the NHL Stadium Series to delve into Verizon’s sponsorship renewal with the league and learn more about its growing activation strategy that leans into authenticity in the sport to engage its core customer base and hockey fans around the country.

Verizon NHL Series Activations 2024 Hotspot Lounge_1

Customers could flash their Verizon phones to gain entry to the Hotspot Lounge during the NHL Stadium Series.

Event Marketer: What is Verizon most excited about with this NHL partnership renewal?

Nick Kelly: We’ve been partnering with the NHL for the last three years, and we’ve learned a lot about each other. I think what’s most exciting is we now know what it takes to be great partners and get the most out of each other. This is going to be a heavily rooted technology partnership and expansion of our private networks across all of the U.S. arenas. We’re going to enhance the fan experience, the back-of-house experience, but more importantly, when it comes to the impacts to fans and activations, we’re going to start treating this at the same level that we treat the NFL. We’re showing up big at the NHL Stadium Series; we have big plans for the draft and the Stanley Cup. When the calendar of the NFL wraps up, we still have three or four months of probably the most exciting time with hockey to keep up that momentum we have, so I think that it really helps us round out a 365-marketing calendar.

What kinds of fan experiences have you previously activated with the NHL, and how are you looking to elevate that for this new multiyear sponsorship?

In the past, we were providing access to events through sweepstakes and retail promotions, and we’re not necessarily stepping away from that. We’re going to continue to focus on access, but I think we’re focused more on the on-site experience, as well, whether that be with our six NHL teams directly—how do we actually go there and take a fan and make their experience better as a Verizon customer—to showing up at the tentpole moments. At the Stadium Series, it’s similar levels of activation to what we’ve historically done with the NFL or Live Nation. Our promise to the league and the fans was that we would step it up, and we’re delivering on day one.

What kinds of learnings are you taking from activations with the NFL and bringing over to the NHL?

I think it’s been that the fan base is wildly different in terms of the watching and attendance habits. The pain points that they have and the experiences that we can provide are very similar. What any fan is looking for is easier access to either get in or out of stadiums, to get food, to get merchandise and to have a place to congregate. So, we’re trying to create experiences in and outside the stadium, whether it be the Tailgate Live or just out front to become kind of a beacon for friends and family to connect and charge their phones. But also making sure, too, the way we can surprise and delight consumers, like when a fan is sitting in the stadium’s 500 section, and all of a sudden, we give a Verizon customer a ticket upgrade to the 100 section. We want to continue to showcase the value that Verizon customers have at one of the NHL games, as opposed to our competitors.

It’s exciting for us and our agency partners to take some of the key learnings we had coming out of Super Bowl, which was extremely successful, and apply them the very next weekend at the Stadium Series. Obviously, the planning happens in parallel, but we made some tweaks in the last 72 hours to make the weekend that much better. We’re just trying to take the momentum that we have from Super Bowl and carry it into this, the NHL Draft and the summer concert series. Once we feel like we’ve hit on the right level of activation and key touch points, we don’t want to lose the momentum.