Senators Unveil New Marketing Brand: 'The Hill We Choose'

Whenever an organization experiences a welcome, long-overdue ownership change, the accompanying honeymoon period that follows is filled with unbridled optimism. One only needs to look to Anaheim, where Arte Moreno sold the Angels to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for unadulterated cathartic bliss.

In the nation’s capital, long-suffering Ottawa Senators fans are familiar with the effects of poor ownership and trickle-down management. So when Michael Andlauer purchased the team, it not only filled this city with hope, but it brought about a standard he referred to as the ‘Best in Class’.

It is idealistic, but Andlauer’s purchase brought back compassion, professionalism, and strong communication befitting a professional sports organization playing at the sport’s highest level.

As we approach the third anniversary of Andlauer’s purchase of the franchise, the positiveness within this market has not changed, but it is a period of transition.

The organization has reached the postseason for two consecutive seasons. Despite their inability to win a series, there is a recognition that this is a strong defensive team that can compete with the league’s best.

Off the ice, there is another transition taking place. Rather than rest on the goodwill organically created by the sale of the franchise, steps are being taken behind the scenes to try to add substance and an identity to this franchise.

Peter Shier, the Senators’ vice president of marketing, is the man tasked with that responsibility.

The 71-year-old has a unique resume. He attended Cornell University, where he majored in hotel and restaurant management while starring on the hockey team as an offensive defenceman. In his third and final season with the Big Red, Shier led the nation in scoring by a defenceman, registering 24 goals and 50 points in 27 NCAA games. Shier parlayed that strong 1977-78 campaign into a professional contract with Minnesota.

He never appeared in an NHL game, but spent three seasons with their Central Hockey League affiliate in Oklahoma City before deciding to take his talent to Europe. He spent a few seasons in Finland, Switzerland, and Austria before retiring from professional hockey at 27 to pursue a career in marketing and advertising.

“When I got back, I was in the restaurant business,” Shier explained. “I hated it because I was working nights and weekends, and I ended up meeting a guy who played hockey at Harvard and introduced me to a bunch of guys, and he owned an ad agency, so I got in advertising.

“I owned my own company in Toronto for 25 years, a branding agency, and then that was it. I was done. I sold my company. I was writing a book, and that's when (Andlauer) called.”

Shier has known the Senators’ owner for 20 years. They used to play hockey together.

“He was our goalie,” Shier recalled. “We used to sit in the dressing room for beer league hockey. He and I, for some reason, always ended up there early. We would talk about business and life. He understood branding.

“I remember saying to him, ‘You know what? I'd love to work with you one day. I think it'd be a blast.’”

Shier is now fulfilling that dream, and after a year with the organization, one of his primary tasks was to develop and grow the Senators’ brand.

“It is time for the Sens to put a stake in the ground after three years of (Andlauer owning the team),” Shier divulged. “Whatever happened before Michael, everybody knows kind of what went on there. He comes in, puts his feet on the ground, and establishes himself in the community.

“Everybody knows now he's legit, and that he wants the best for Ottawa. He's willing to invest, and he's got the city at heart and in his mind.”

As a marketing guy, Shier knew that he needed to come in and build on the momentum that Andlauer’s purchase had created in this community.

Every franchise seems to be searching for iconic, high-level branding. The Toronto Raptors have their ‘We The North’, while the Minnesota Wild have their ‘State of Hockey’.

The Senators have tried marketing campaigns featuring slogans like ‘Heart over hype’ or ‘All heart, all in’ before.

“As a marketing guy, it was time to come in and ask, ‘What is it we want to do?’,” Shier stated. “What do we want to be known for moving forward? We went through the ‘Heart over hype’. We had that last year. We had ‘All heart, all in’, which was more of a playoff rallying cry.

“The ‘Heart over hype’, in its time, had a purpose, but I think everybody agreed it didn't have the legs that it needed.”

The challenge for Shier was to identify what the Senators’ brand stood for and what it represents in this market. To do that, the organization worked in concert with Acart Communications, its long-time business partner that specializes in marketing services. Together, they did extensive research, including focus groups, inviting season seat holders into the rink before games, and boots-on-the-ground work that involved Shier going into local establishments to talk with community members.

In these small settings, people were asked about Ottawa and how they arrived here. Through these sessions, a few themes came through, with one prevailing.

“There was a really clear theme coming through when I started to talk to people, and it started to resonate,” Shier explained. “It was about the people in Ottawa. They choose to be here. They choose to stay here. They choose to weather the winters and put up with drawbacks because it's a great place to live.

“There are all sorts of benefits. It's not Toronto. It's not Montreal. It's a smaller, quieter place. We like that. Even if you move away, you come back to it.”

During his research, one anecdote stood out.

“There was a waitress at the Supply and Demand restaurant, but she had lived in Toronto,” Shier recalled. “Then she came back. I asked, ‘What made you come back?’ She said, ‘My family's here, and I always loved Ottawa. It gave me a chance to ease back into life.’

“I thought that was a great expression for kind of what this city's all about. It's quieter, it's slower, it's more polite. It's nicer and easier to get around. That, to me, epitomized that. It got us thinking a little bit about the whole choice thing, and that's where we ended up.”

“I love this graphic,” Shier described. “It's simple and non-defined. That person could be anybody. It's really simple to come at, and the other piece is that it works in French too, which is important. The ‘Hill’ refers to Parliament Hill, but also the Gatineau Hills. The ‘we’ is inclusive. It's an invitation to join us in this. And ‘choice’: we say ‘choice’ is the ultimate decision-maker. If you choose to do something or choose something, you're making a defined choice to do it. You're making a decision.”

The slogan works on several levels, with the most obvious being the geographic connotations involved. 

First-generation Senators fans were hockey fans who grew up rooting for other NHL teams because there was no local option to support. Even today, there are still a ton of Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens supporters within the nation’s capital and Gatineau.

The latter of which has been a major point of emphasis for owner Michael Andlauer. The team had kicked around using the word capital in the branding, but wanted something that included both sides of the river.

“He gets marketing,” Shier pointed out. “Gatineau is really important to him. We probably have a conversation once a week about Gatineau and how we can build that. So we're working on that too. This was really important that it works in French, so we can get bigger there and build an affinity.”

The Senators are borrowing a page from Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer’s playbook. (And no, it is not for knowingly seeking to help star players obtain off-court income opportunities for cap circumvention purposes.)

Rather than try to convert adult fans who root for the Lakers, Ballmer’s Clippers refurbished 500 basketball courts across Southern California as part of a community project to target future generations of prospective fans.

In Gatineau, a market that was neglected and ignored under previous ownership, the Senators are aggressively trying to make inroads. This season, the Senators have invested in Gatineau’s Timbits and U7 hockey programs. Five AAA teams across different age groups will represent the Outaouais in the Quebec Elite League and will wear Senators jerseys. These developments are in their relative infancy, but having kids in Gatineau wear the logo and realize that the professional team plays in their market should pay dividends down the road.

Of course, the inescapable parallel for this branding is the timing of the Brady Tkachuk trade request. The American-born podcaster exercised his right to ask for a trade before using his no-movement clause to ensure that he would go to his preferred destination of Florida.

It takes months to put together a marketing campaign, so it’s not as if the captain’s decision to leave fuelled this direction. However, it certainly could help bolster the brand as a rallying cry.

“I've had a few people say, 'Oh, is that because of Brady?'” Shier stated. “And no, we were doing this before. In fact, I went to (Dave Poulin) right after the Brady trade, and I said, ‘It's wild, right? We've got this, and if (Steve Staios) had this in the press conference, he might have actually used the words to say, ‘Yeah, we want people to choose Ottawa.’ That's what we're looking for here, so it's kind of proof of concept.”

In many instances, it is proof of concept. Claude Giroux originally signed with Ottawa when the team was less competitive because he wanted to be closer to family and his offseason home. During his end-of-season media availability, without being asked, Tim Stützle went out of his way to describe how much he enjoys and relishes the opportunity to play in a Canadian market. It was an intriguing statement at the time, but one that made much more sense in the weeks that followed.

Tkachuk’s departure could be a rallying and unifying moment for this franchise, but it remains to be seen whether this new branding can help capture that feeling and maintain it in the years to come.

In an era when branding matters and every franchise is trying to find that marquee slogan, is it attainable for everyone, including the Senators?

“It's a great question,” Shier said. “Is it attainable? It depends on kind of what they come up with, but it has to stick. It has to be relevant. It has to be ownable. You want something different, like ‘We The North’. Nobody else can say that. I don't think anybody else can say this about ours. So I like that part because it's ownable.

"It gives the fans something to build from, too. It's the foundation of everything we do. It is important. We need something that gives us a sort of gravitas to build off of.

"So yeah, I do think it's important.”

By Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News