BEARD-A-THON – GROW ONE FOR THE TEAM
PHILANTHROPIC BRANDING AND MARKETING
Connecting fans with hockey charities through brand and website design.
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Growing a Playoff Beard NOW MEANS FUNDING NHL TEAM CharitIES
From superstition to charity giving. Growing a playoff beard has been a decades old NHL hockey playoff tradition for players and fans alike. Fans would don a beard as their team entered the playoffs and let if continue to grow as their teams advanced.
The Idea
The brand activation agency I was working for created the Beard-a-thon, a fundraising platform for NHL teams charities to supercharge fundraising during the playoffs. An activated playoff team would be able to use this website platform to encourage fans to grow a playoff beard or “Grow one for the Team” and obstain from shaving. Fans uploaded a “before” photos to the site. Friends and family would find their link on the site and sponsor their beard in their name for charity.
ACTIVATING FANS
Email blast lists were a key marketing tactic to spread the word of the fundraising and hair-growing program. Blasts were sent out to ticket holders and fans who signed up to participate to help them track their progress. Over the years most teams in the playoffs participated in the beard-a-thon that was later co-branded with the teams identity. In some cases teams ran their own beard-a-thon based on brand materials.
MY ROLE
Alex was asked to design the initial brand identity, website, marketing materials and social media graphics to promote the effort.
Pictured left, a print out team branded cutout playoff beard for the “folically challenged” to increase participant diversity.
Sponsorship opportunities
The Beard-a-Thon brings people together, fostering a sense of camaraderie among participants. From the efforts, brands were encouraged to sponsor the event. One year Cremo gave out product samples to promote the event at various playoff games. (Rendering pictured above).
THE RESULTS
In ten years, $2+ million dollars was raised for NHL charities throughout north america
Over 55,000 fans in ten years grew playoff beards from 2008-2018.
“In 2014, Boston Bruins fans have led the way, raising over $88,000 for the Martin W. Richard Charitable Foundation and the Boston Bruins Foundation. Jason Beckett of Milton, MA leads all fans with over $13,000 raised for charity. Fans of the New York Rangers Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings combined have raised over $110,000 for local charities.”
Source: nhl.com
