WESTERN HOCKEY REBRAND

Western Washington University Ice Hockey

THE ASK

While initially brought on to manage social media, I quickly recognized a greater opportunity: WWU Ice Hockey lacked a cohesive brand identity, a strategic marketing system, and consistent visibility in the community.

My Role: Marketing Director

Media Production
Strategy Development
Content Creation/Graphic Design
Social Media Management
Event Production

I took the initiative to build a comprehensive marketing apparatus from the ground up with the goals of increasing game attendance, boosting fan engagement, elevating the team’s professional image, and ultimately helping the team generate enough revenue to sustainably cover operational costs like ice time.

However, Western does not have a strong sports culture and many of the varsity sports have low attendance. A sports culture needs to be cultivated, which takes time.

THE CHALLENGE

The Western Washington University Ice Hockey team found itself in a unique position. There was a desire for a larger sports culture at the school, but an absence of big sports to rally behind.

Simply put, there was a vacuum waiting to be filled.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Students under the age of 21 are looking for things to do on Friday and Saturday nights. They aren’t old enough to go to bars, so they typically attend parties, concerts, or sporting events.

I wanted hockey games to emulate the qualities they find in these alternative activities, creating a party-like atmosphere

THE INSIGHT

Reframe hockey games as an alternative to parties and concerts. It’s an event with people, music, and the best game on the planet.

This reframing went hand in hand with a cohesive rebrand consisting of a brand identity overhaul, a fresh communications strategy.

THE SOLUTION

DOUBLING of followers and engagement over 2 years, as well as a 50% INCREASE in attendance from 2022-2024.

$7000 IN REVENUE collected from 2023-2025.

$12,000 OF FUNDRAISING IN 2024

$15,000 OF FUNDRAISING IN 2025

THE RESULTS

Brand design was in compliance with WWU Athletics.

Despite not being a varsity sport I stuck with the same branding guidelines in order to increase integration between departments and credibility for our team.

BRAND IDENTITY

We used primary marketing research to better understand our audience, tailoring our content/events to their needs.

DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS

Academic Year

Gender

Age

WE FOUND OUR AUDIENCE WAS MOSTLY WOMEN BETWEEN 18-20

And catered our brand voice to better speak to a majority female audience, using similar language to increase the relatability of our content.

Content Strategy

Graphic content was altered after the instagram algorithm started favoring images without text. Pictures were used as a cover with information available on the next slide.

Owned Media

Earned Media

Collaborated with niche-specific influencers @hockeyhousepod and @collegehockeybuzz to extend our reach with earned media.

Posts boosted by these accounts reached up to 828k views, increasing our brand recognition and credibility.

To engage these students we targeted places that they frequented, such as lecture halls, dorms, and campus recreation events.

GRASSROOTS ENGAGEMENT

Our initiatives included: moving freshmen into dorms, leaving free entry tickets in lecture halls, giving out free food and games at the campus recreation info fair, and putting up posters around campus with a QR code to our website.

This site helps provide easily digestible info about the team. From the game location, to information about the school for recruits, we’ve seen a 100% increase of recruits year-over-year after the implementation of this site.

THE WEBSITE

I hired and managed an incredible team of 9. They had roles spanning marketing research, content creation, photography, broadcasting, PR, and social media management.