Through this research, I came across the NikeTraining.ca website which features YouTube star, Steve Dangle providing an insightful, funny, behind the scenes perspective from the tournament. I had the pleasure of chatting with both Steve and Laura West (Nike – Digital Brand Manager) prior to the USA-Sweden semi-final game.

In this interview, we address the following topics:

1. Steve explains how he got started in videoblogging on YouTube and Leafspace.com?
2. Laura provides insight on how Nike found out about Steve (thru their digital agency – Organic) and why they decided to have him represent their brand at the WJHC?
3. Steve talks about the importance of engaging with fans.  ”Social Media is not about quantity, it’s about quality!”
4. Laura discusses the NikeTraining.ca website – “Go to where the audience is versus making them come to us”.
5. Laura talks about Nike’s latest marketing campaign – Force Fate
6. Trevor addresses Pepsi’s recent announcement to cancel their SuperBowl advertising and, instead, focus on online efforts.
7. Laura shares her views on why Nike believes Social Media is an important part of their future communications and marketing initiatives.

Niketraining.ca Interview – Social Media

Conclusion

I want to express my thanks to both Steve and Laura for taking the time to chat with me about their project.  After being on the road for the last 4 months following sporting events and managing multiple social accounts, I can assure everyone that this is a very time consuming process.  Steve and Laura are joined in Saskatoon by two other very talented individuals that are shooting video, managing social accounts and staying up all night to edit and upload new videos every day.

In the interview, I mentioned the fact that Pepsi recently announced that they will not be participating in Superbowl advertising, ending a 23 year run.  Announcements like this make it clear that big brands are starting to realize the value of social media. Nike’s commitment to engaging in two-way conversations and building communities around their marketing efforts makes it clear that this is not a trend, rather, it’s a social revolution that is changing the way brands, teams, athletes and fans communicate.

Follow NikeTraining

Website: http://niketraining.ca

Twitter: http://twitter.com/niketraining

Facebook: http://facebook.com/niketraining

YouTube: http://youtube.com/niketraining

NikeTraining.ca

The link takes you to a landing page promoting Nike’s new marketing campaign titled “We Decide From Here – Force Fate”.  The microsite is clearly being used to capture the attention of fans of the Canadian Olympic hockey teams.  However, also on this site is a link to a dedicated section covering the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championship. (Here is the direct link to that page: http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/niketraining/en_CA/force_fate)

As you’ll see on this page, Nike is leveraging social media to provide Canadian hockey fans with coverage from tournament.

• YouTube – video analysis by YouTube star – Steve Dangle (see more about Steve below)
• Twitter – daily coverage of the WJHC including live score updates and links to YouTube videos
• Facebook – coverage of Team Canada, engaging questions, YouTube videos (Nike commercials)

Prominently displayed on the page is a video section titled “Dangle’s Diary”.  At first glance, I wasn’t sure what Nike’s angle was in choosing their on-location reporter.  However, a little more research and this is what I found about Steve Dangle.

Steve Dangle

As described by Nike: He’s young, smart, opinionated and a walking, talking Wikipedia of hockey.
He’s also got one of the most respected hockey blogs on YouTube.
He’s Steve Dangle. Click here

Steve Dangle is a popular video blogger that covers the Toronto Maple Leafs and has a loyal following on Leafspace.com.  His YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/SteveDangle) has over 260,000 channel views and over 1M video views.  Steve also has an entertaining Twitter account (http://twitter.com/StevE_dangle) where he voices his opinion on his favorite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Here are a few of the videos I came across on Steve’s YouTube channel (this kid is hilarious…..love his Don Cherry impressions!)

Hockey Night in Canada Theme Song (Don Cherry impression)

Don Cherry impression – “Canadians Don’t Smile!”

Nike & Steve Dangle

It is apparent that Nike (one of the world biggest brands) has seen the value that social media can add to their marketing strategy.  They put a 21 year old kid with a webcam in charge of covering one of the biggest events in Canadian sports.  One of the key factors that make social media so impactful is the fact that anyone that is providing good content can generate a loyal following.  And, in turn, those social media stars can have influence over the people that tune in to watch their YouTube videos and follow their tweets on Twitter.

Great job by Nike in recognizing that social media is not a fad.  By employing Steve Dangle, they generated an instant, engaged audience.  And, great job by Steve Dangle in establishing this partnership with Nike.  I’m sure it’s a dream come true for him.  It’s amazing what passion will get you nowadays!!!

Juniors2010.ca is an events listing site that was created to inform fans of the 2010 World Junior Championships of events around Saskatoon and Regina (host cities).  The website is also a resource of information for games, tournament information, news and blogs surrounding the tournament.

I will be doing a more in depth interview with Michael Yasieniuk (President of Yastech Developments) regarding how he is using social media to drive traffic to the Juniors2010.ca website, how he is measuring his social media efforts and what his future plans are for the site.

In the meantime, since social media is about SHARING and engaging, I wanted to share with everyone the research I have done over the past few days regarding the impact that social media is having on the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championships.  Being part of the media, I have access to the media list that outlines all of the different media covering the tournament.  So, I did some research to find out how they are using social media in their communication strategy.  One thing that I’ve noticed while conducting this research is that the information is not easy to find!  But, I did manage to round up some info that hopefully helps fans stay better connected to the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championship.

International Media

International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)

• Website - includes news, schedule, standings, statistics, blog, pictures, video and live ticker
• Twitter – Not updated since October 12, 2009
• Facebook – Appears official but not much info provided by the IIHF

National Media

TSN

• Website – Dedicated section on tsn.ca for the WJHC including schedule, scores and articles
• Twitter – TSN hockey analyst Bob McKenzie is covering all hockey through his Twitter account, but good coverage of WJHC
• Facebook – Lots of WJHC coverage. Including custom page and widgets

The Score

• Website – Dedicated page on their website covering the WJHC.  Providing decent coverage of the games including articles
• Twitter – Dedicated Twitter account for the WJHC. Providing decent coverage of the games and links to their website

Rogers Sportsnet

• Website – Some WJHC coverage

Canadian Hockey League

• Website – Some WJHC coverage.  Mostly stories about CHL players

CBC Sports

• Website – Provides score updates

Globe & Mail

• Website – Provides score updates

New Media (Online)

FastHockey.com

• Website – provides live streaming of games not televised by TSN.

YahooCanada.com

• Website – includes scores, articles and videos from Sportnet.ca

Juniors2010.ca

• Website – extensive information about events around Saskatoon and Regina during the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championships including parties, transportation, scores and photos.
• Twitter – live coverage of game scores, stats, trivia, photos and tournament information
• Facebook – live coverage of game scores, stats, trivia, photos and tournament information

2010Juniors.com

• Website – behind the scenes perspective at the WJHC and information regarding WJHC events
• Twitter – behind the scenes perspective at the WJHC and links to 2010juniors.com
• Facebook – behind the scenes perspective at the WJHC and links to 2010juniors.com

Future Considerations

• Website – daily articles covering the WJHC and the up and coming NHL prospects
• Twitter - providing game highlights and entertaining comments throughout the WJHC

The World of Junior Hockey

• Website – a blog with daily articles discussing the WJHC

Teams

USA Hockey

• Website – extensive converage of Team USA during the WJHC
• Live Blog – Live game blogging during Team USA games
• Twitter – updated scores and behind the scenes action surrounding Team USA

Hockey Canada

• Website – extensive coverage of Team Canada and the WJHC
• Twitter – Some coverage of WJHC, but also includes information about all Hockey Canada teams
• Facebook – Some coverage of WJHC, but also includes information about all Hockey Canada teams

Stay tuned for more articles on Sport Fan Connect as the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championship continues!

Mike Olaski has now landed in Vancouver for a few months to start planning for future projects (to be announced soon), and I have am pleased to announce that I am coming to you live from the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championships in my hometown, Saskatoon, Sk, Canada.

To keep with the theme of Sport Fan Connect, I am focusing on providing information on how social media is impacting the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championships.  In doing so, I am also assisting Yastech Developments in using social media to drive traffic to their event listing website (http://juniors2010.ca).

The http://juniors2010.ca website is a resource of information for all 2010 World Jr Hockey Championship fans that includes local event listings for both Regina and Saskatoon. Juniors2010.ca also has a Facebook Fan page and Twitter account setup to provide live updates, photos, videos and interesting facts from the tournament.  There is also a News & Blogs section that provides fans with more information from many perspectives including info about the tournament, teams, players and events. Here are some of the news and blogs featured on http://juniors2010.ca:

• TSN (http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/) – Game Scores and Coverage
• Hockey Canada (http://hockeycanada.com) – Governing body of hockey in Canada
• International Ice Hockey Federation (http://www.iihf.com/) – Governing body of International hockey and inline hockey
• The Score (http://my.thescore.com/wjhc2010/) – Game Scores, Coverage, Blog
• 2010 Juniors Blog (http://2010juniors.com) – Behind the scenes perspective including blog, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr

2010 World Jr Hockey Championships & Social Media

As I mentioned above, in keeping with the Sport Fan Connect theme, my intention is to profile the ways that social media is impacting the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championship.  One of the things that I have noticed in particular is that there are many teams, traditional and new media covering the tournament, however, finding all this information online is difficult.  For example, if you are a fan of Team USA, where do you go to find out information about your team? I mention USA Hockey because they are actually doing a great job of covering their team at the tournament.  I will be writing articles on Sport Fan Connect over the next 10 days that profile how these teams, traditional media and new media providers are covering the 2010 World Jr Championships using social media.

So, stay tuned as I research all of these areas and provide information that I hope will be valuable to all those interested in the 2010 World Jr Hockey Championships and International hockey.  With the Olympics coming up, it will be interesting to hear from each of the governing bodies on how they intend to use social media to connect with their fan base.