1. The Los Angeles Kings Score a Digital Marketing
Hat-Trick: Greater Revenue, Retention, and
Fan Loyalty
All-Star Team of Neolane and FanOne Marketing Help Stanley Cup
Customer name: Los Angeles Kings
Champions Increase Customer Knowledge and Deliver Personalized Fan Industry: Sports & Entertainment
Experiences
Owned by Anschutz Entertainment “Like other professional sports teams, the “Thanks to Neolane
Group (AEG) the Los Angeles Kings are a LA Kings offer multiple products, including
National Hockey League (NHL) franchise single game tickets, multi-game packs, and FanOne Marketing,
founded in 1967. Overcoming seemingly group tickets, season tickets, merchandise, the LA Kings have
insurmountable odds, the Kings won and more, said LeValley. “Without a
”
their first NHL Stanley Cup in 2012, single, comprehensive view of fans’
been able to increase
becoming the first 8th seeded team in behavior and interests, we were limited revenue, retention, and
NHL history to do so. in our ability to tailor these products to fan loyalty—and do so
the right individuals or groups, and then
Challenge: Disparate Fan Data engage them with targeted marketing while maintaining an
and Limited Capabilities for messages. ” efficient, lean marketing
Driving Targeted Messages team.”
Solution: Open Platform and
Since winning the Stanley Cup, the Aaron LeValley,
Powerful Personalization Engine
LA Kings’ popularity has soared, with Director of CRM, LA Kings
season tickets expected to sell out for
Backed by Strategic Services
the first time in their history. However, The LA Kings evaluated several marketing
in Los Angeles, hockey has traditionally automation platforms against a specific BUSINESS NEED
been challenged to compete with other set of criteria that included the ability The LA Kings sought to increase
professional sports, including basketball to create a central marketing datamart; revenue, retention, and loyalty in a
and baseball. track individual behavior and responses; competitive market by integrating
multiple data sources and leveraging
and execute automated cross-channel its customer intelligence to drive
Thus, although the LA Kings have a campaigns that deliver personalized fan targeted, personalized marketing
passionate core fan base, their marketing experiences. campaigns.
department was tasked with finding ways
to generate new sales while increasing Based on this evaluation, Neolane’s
RESULTS
retention and loyalty in a competitive conversational marketing platform was
market. When Aaron LeValley, Director chosen over other leading automation • Enhance customer intelligence by
creating a single, 360-degree view
of CRM, joined the team in 2009, he platforms. The decision boiled down to a of fans
began thinking about how they could few key factors, including Neolane’s open
work smarter through better customer API, personalization engine, cross-channel • Increase revenues and ROI
by delivering personalized
knowledge and technology. capabilities, and future-proof platform, as experiences across channels
well as the deep industry knowledge of
At the time, the LA Kings were using CRM partner FanOne Marketing. • Automate marketing campaigns,
and email marketing tools provided by driving greater results while
their ticketing vendor. Because the team “Neolane and FanOne Marketing offered maintaining lean operations
couldn’t integrate multiple data streams the winning combination of robust • Increase online season ticket
(transactions, campaign responses, web technology powered by strategic services, ” renewals 10%, reallocating human
behavior, forms, social media activity, explains LeValley. “Neolane’s open API resources to higher priorities
etc.), they had a fractured and incomplete was crucial to integrating disparate data • Build the database via social
view of their fans. Moreover, the email sources and better understanding our fans. media, transforming anonymous
tool offered limited segmentation and Plus, we knew the platform could support followers into addressable
contacts
personalization capabilities. our increasing marketing sophistication
over time. Lastly, FanOne Marketing’s

2. “Neolane and FanOne Marketing offered the winning combination of robust
technology powered by strategic services. Neolane’s open API was crucial to
integrating disparate data sources and better understanding our fans. Plus,
we knew the platform could support our increasing marketing sophistication
over time.”
understanding of our business far exceeded that milestone is reached, marketing will
other marketing service providers.
” focus on building a waiting list and keeping
those fans engaged through multi-touch
Results: Personalized Fan nurture campaigns.
Experiences Drive Greater
“Thanks to Neolane and FanOne Marketing,
Revenue, Retention, and Loyalty
the LA Kings have been able to increase
Drawing from their combined revenue, retention, and fan loyalty—and
knowledgebase and partnership, the LA do so while maintaining an efficient, lean
Kings and FanOne Marketing have worked marketing team, said LeValley.
”
closely to design and execute marketing
campaigns in Neolane, including subscriber Looking Forward: Social
welcome campaigns, pre- and post-game Marketing, Lead Scoring, and
communications, season ticket renewals, Tighter CRM Integration
seasonal promotions, lead nurturing, and
more. The platform’s workflow engine has The LA Kings have begun exploring
brought greater automation and efficiency ways to unlock value from their social
to their marketing operations. Moreover, media audiences using Neolane Social
centralizing fan data in Neolane has Marketing. For instance, the team launched
allowed the team to increase targeting a campaign aimed at acquiring new fans
sophistication, which has, in turn, boosted from Twitter. Followers received a Direct
relevancy and results. Message with a contest; in order to enter
to win, they had to complete a brief form
For instance, the LA Kings developed a and provide their name, email, and Twitter
behavior-based workflow for its holiday pack handle.
campaign that automatically segmented
individuals who exhibited behaviors for a “The Twitter campaign generated a
series of follow-up messages. The campaign 6-7% response rate, netting hundreds
generated more than $70,000 in revenue, of new contacts in our database, notes
”
with the second email doubling the revenue LeValley. “The key is that we were able to
of the first and the third email to “clickers” identify anonymous followers, make them
generating the highest return per send. This marketable via other channels, and start
campaign was launched within two months assigning them value. ”
of implementation and showcased the
To further optimize sales, the LA Kings
effectiveness and a quick, positive ROI for
are building a lead scoring model that
LA Kings executives.
incorporates demographic, transaction,
and behavioral data to identify fans with Neolane, Inc.
The LA Kings are also using Neolane to
drive online season ticket renewals. In the highest propensity to buy. Plans are 275 Washington Street
Third Floor, Newton, MA 02458
addition to sending targeted emails, the also underway to migrate to a new CRM
Office: +1 617 467 6760
team has created a personalized URL and system that would allow for bidirectional Fax: +1 617 467 6701
microsite for each season ticket holder that synchronization with Neolane. Armed with info@neolane.com
contains savings and benefits info along each fan’s score and complete interaction www.neolane.com
with fun, engaging content. As a result of history, sales and service reps will be able
to better prioritize their efforts and engage United States
this initiative, online renewals are up 10%
United Kingdom
to their highest level, which has freed sales in informed conversations.
France
reps to focus on higher risk accounts. Nordics
Based on the tremendous success the LA
Thanks to greater marketing effectiveness Kings have had using Neolane, parent Neolane and the Neolane logo are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Neolane Inc. in the United States and other
plus a popularity boost stemming from the company AEG is planning to bring the LA countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the
2012 Stanley Cup, the LA Kings are on the Galaxy, of Major League Soccer, onto the property of their respective owners.
verge of selling out of season tickets. Once platform. © 2012 Neolane, Inc.