Playoffs
During the playoffs, the challenge is to find a way to take all the content we did during the regular season, but then to turn it up even more. This requires a full team effort and careful collaboration between myself directing the social media team and our video, graphic design, and PR departments. This also requires a steady balance of planning with reacting in the moment.
We established that for every round we would post the schedule and matchup graphics and for every game, a hype graphic, a video of our pre-game drummer and promotions for our giveaways and watch parties. Following each win, we would post a mini movie and a puck board photo and video. After each round we won, we would post a brainrot, a graphic mocking our opponent, and handshake photos.
With those basics established, it allowed for the flexibility to create based on what occurred during the game and really capitalize on moments.
Memes
Given our chippy style of play as a team, it made sense for us to poke at our opponents on social as well. The goal was to push buttons and make our fans happy, but also have the post be so good that even our opponents’ fans have to admit that it’s funny. With Boston (in 2024), the rivalry was so deep that it made sense to be more vicious. During the games, I would work with our Social Media Coordinators to brainstorm and produce the memes so that we were ready to go as soon as the game ended.
One that particularly performed well was in reference to Alberta’s laws about rats (Alberta claims to be rat free and takes rat control very seriously). This required a level of knowledge about Canadian law that then fit perfectly with the running bit of Panthers fans throwing rats on the ice after the win.
Meeting the Moment
Because of the work beforehand, I was able to capitalize on moments throughout the playoffs when they occurred. A few notable examples of this include when I used a copypasta I had seen to really hype up a Brad Marchand goal, using a Taylor Swift themed caption when she was at a game during the Stanley Cup Final, using time on the road to hide rats around the city of Edmonton playing again into the fact that there are no rats in Alberta, and using the ‘Strombone’ (Roberto Luongo, former goaltender for the Panthers and Vancouver Canucks) post.
The Luongo tweet specifically required tapping into a level of narrative knowledge because he was the goaltender for the Canucks when they lost the championship to Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins in 2011. Thus his post about Marchand was bound to make waves across hockey social media.
With all of these, it was important to adapt as things occur and stay very present to the conversations occuring on social media to best produce content for the moment.
Puck Board
Following every win, a player would be chosen to put the puck in the puck board which had 16 slots for the amount of wins it takes to secure the championship. We would get the video of the moment at some point in the night from our video team, but regarding the photo, it was really important to be first. Once all the reporters entered the room, they would post the same content and whichever post was up first typically performed the best. I worked closely with our PR team to make sure I could get in the room first, without delaying anything else, and post the photo.
Finally, after the conclusion of the back-to-back championships, I tracked down both puck boards and got a photo of both to highlight the notable seasons.
Working with Our Graphic Designers
During each game, I would work with a graphic designer to direct them as to any potential graphics from what was occurring during the game. As the narratives changed throughout the game, we would have to adapt the graphics.
For example, if a game was close then they would start to prepare an overtime graphic with the most likely people to score as options. For the ‘aura’ graphic, Evan Rodrigues was having a great game so it made sense to feature him prominently. With help from our PR team, we realized that the dates lined up perfectly with a historic franchise moment and the newspaper idea came from there.
Champions
I was very lucky to be part of two playoffs that ended in championships. We planned as much as we could ahead of time and the rest we adapted as it we went. Prioritizing speed because in those moments people are ready to engage with anything and everything.
Additionally, the championships were great moments that I could loop back to during slower content times. People were always excited to be reminded of the wins with championship anniversary posts, the ring ceremony, all of the players’ days with the Stanley Cup and things like that.
I also put out a call for fan moments of when we won to really tap into UGC. After I went through all the videos, our video team put together a really nice video of all of their celebrations. It helped to reinforce the important organizational narrative that we won “for the fans.” It also served to help engage with our community during a the off-season.
