Case Study: 2018 IIHF World Championship

Copenhagen played host to the 2018 IIHF World Championship, drawing 16 teams from across the globe, all in competition for the trophy. What was a hugely successful flagship and record-breaking event for IIHF was also the biggest ever event ever staged in Denmark with more than 525,000 ice hockey fans taking to the rinks to […]

Copenhagen played host to the 2018 IIHF World Championship, drawing 16 teams from across the globe, all in competition for the trophy. What was a hugely successful flagship and record-breaking event for IIHF was also the biggest ever event ever staged in Denmark with more than 525,000 ice hockey fans taking to the rinks to enjoy the action.

The Timelines:

In 2016 Ticketmaster Denmark together with the local organising committee and IIHF met to sketch out the preliminary plans for the ticket sale, marketing and setup of the event. From then on Ticketmaster worked closely together with the local O.C, to further develop the plans and to ensure that the client’s objectives were met.

  • 1 September 2017 initial onsale of packages
  • 2 February 2017 individual tickets onsale
  • 4 – 20 May 2018 Event operations

What services and expertise were required?

Ticketmaster Denmark dedicated a full time, Danish Client Support Manager with significant prior experience in handling large-scale ticketing projects in sport to look after this project full time.
Also Ticketmaster local and International marketing reach was to play a key role. A maketing manager was appointed to handle the marketing and promotional aspects of the campaign on behalf of Ticketmaster. Cross promotion in the Finnish, Norwegian, German, French and Swedish Ticketmaster markets helped to drive sales from day one and it was thanks to the experienced marketing teams in these Ticketmaster markets that helped make coordination of cross-border marketing campaigns possible.

The challenges:

 Any large scale event presents a challenge to the OC and the assorted agencies involved in the project. This particular event featured a lot of different games, allocations and ticket types and therefore it was particularly complex. In addition, with less than 5000 active players, Denmark was not at the time considered a primary ice hockey nation and therefore engaging with the local community and wider Dannish sports fanbase to identify fans appeared to be an additional challenge. However, over the course of almost two years, through skilful application of content marketing, data science and targetting, the local team was able to grow the marketable audience beyond all expectations.

What was unique?

The 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey WM was by far the biggest sporting event to ever take place in Denmark and therefore it was more important than ever before to deliver a world-class service on an unprecedented scale. Many bespoke solutions, for this project alone, were developed; from allocation and setup of the ticket sale to marketing services.

The team involved in the project were required to think out of the box and be flexible to meet the demands of this event. As a result Ticketmaster Denmark delivered a bespoke service and a platform capable of handling the ticketing, marketing and support for the biggest event ever to take place on Danish ice.

What special role did the marketing team play in the overall success of the project?

The great results delivered by the Danish marketing team are as a result of their sense of creativity, curiosity and open-mindedness. The event required a whole new set of solutions, ideas and a wholly unique approach. In addition to providing the client with access to Ticketmaster’s powerful state-of the-art marketing tools, the Danish marketing team played a critical role in assisting the local OC with idea generation, content and contributions to complement the overall marketing strategy. In particular too, the intensified remarketing campaigns during the event through social media and direct mail also proved to be hugely successful in driving sales and engagement.

The results:

More than 300,000 tickets were sold before the event commenced on 4 May 2018 and a large percentage of this was driven by Ticketmaster’s internal marketing and global cross promotion.This is the biggest number of tickets sold for any single sporting event ever in Denmark. Combined with the impressive number of tickets sold during the event, the 2018 Ice Hockey WM stands as the most high profile event Ticketmaster Denmark has ever ticketed.