From NEHJ: Lacing up brand loyalty
When it comes to equipment, hockey players are more particular than perhaps any other athlete.
|
|
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is Reebok's biggest skate endorser. (Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) |
In need of the right fit, the right feel and the necessary
performance level from an enormous amount of gear, players often
find what works best at a young age and stick with it.
Among all of the parts of the equipment equation, this is
especially true of skates.
“Skates are certainly the most brand-loyal of
categories,” said Andrew Stewart, product manager at
Reebok-CCM. “When someone has been wearing a particular brand
for a while, they’re more hesitant to change. When
you’re talking about the consumers, you’re spending
upwards of $700 on a high-end pair of skates. You’ve got one
chance of getting the skate you’re going to wear for a year
or two, so you don’t want to make a mistake. Guys like to
stick with what they know.”
Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt but rather content when
it comes to skates. Swapping out sticks, gloves and many other
pieces of equipment for new models or even a different brand is a
considerably easier process than adjusting to a new pair of
blades.
“Imagine if you switched brands and all the sudden your
balance point is off, you’re not comfortable and you have
trouble turning?” Stewart said. “Everybody fears that.
Not that it’s going to happen, but people fear
that.”
While Reebok-CCM and the rest of its competitors continue to raise
the bar for skates at a rapid rate, making them lighter and more
durable than many ever thought possible, comfort and fit remain at
the top of their agendas.
“I think fit, first and foremost, is critical. That’s
why we have multiple families (of skates), because we offer
different types of fit,” category general manager Craig
Desjardins said of Bauer’s line of Supreme and Vapor skates.
“After that, you’re looking at the type of tongue that
a player prefers or the amount of feel or support they want from
the boot. The aesthetic value can’t be underestimated,
because I think consumers always have a preference of certain
styling and things like that. The overall durability is critical as
well.”
Desjardins reported that 70 percent of the NHL is wearing Bauer
skates these days, including Islanders defenseman Mike Mottau
(Avon, Mass.), who has worn the brand for all but one year since he
was in seventh grade.
“I feel like certain models are extremely light,”
Mottau said. “I sweat a lot, and they dry quickly. They
either drain or, if you put them in a hot room, they dry quicker
than the other ones.”
So how does a young player, like Mottau was during his days in
middle school, decide on a particular brand?
“I think there’s different angles to it,” said
Desjardins. “First and foremost, we engage directly with the
consumer. We’re not only reaching out to them through digital
avenues like Facebook and Twitter, but we’re listening to
what they have to say, taking that input and evolving products and
how we speak to them.
“We have a significant grassroots campaign where we have a
demo team go out and physically let the players try the product
before they buy it. For a lot of our consumers, they tell us
that’s extremely important in giving them the confidence to
purchase Bauer.”
Wayne Zwicker of H.A. Zwicker, Inc. in Bedford, Mass., a retail
outlet for hockey equipment that focuses on the sale and repair of
skates, knows that star power is also a big part of the process.
Young kids are quite impressionable and often inquire about the
same brands their NHL idols are utilizing, especially Penguins
captain and Reebok endorser Sidney Crosby.
“I think it’s huge,” Zwicker said. “The
(kids) that have dedicated their lives to hockey, they have a
favorite player they’re always reading about and they can see
what equipment they’re wearing.
“Sometimes these kids know what kind of jockstrap
they’re wearing, it’s amazing. … They’re
very aware of what the pros and even the college kids are
using.”
Mottau plans to test a few models from Reebok-CCM before the
2011-12 season gets under way, but the 33-year-old blueliner knows
making a change at this point in his career won’t be
easy.
“I’m trying a couple skates this summer,” Mottau
said. “It’s the hardest thing to get into, just because
you’re so used to a certain brand. I think hockey players in
general are very particular about certain pieces of equipment, and
with skates they’re the most particular.”
And if Mottau realizes during his summer experiment that his new
gear is too tight, not absorbent enough or simply not giving him
the performance on the ice that he expected, he’ll likely
revert back to what he’s stuck with for the better part of
two decades.
“Generally, players are going to pick their brand of
preference when it comes to hockey skates,” Stewart said.
“Very few pro players are paid to wear skates. You can pay a
guy to wear a helmet or gloves but, if you’re not happy in
your skates, you can’t play hockey. That’s the bottom
line.”
This article originally appeared in the August 2011 issue of
New England Hockey Journal.
Jesse Connolly can be reached at jconnolly@hockeyjournal.com