Carolina Hurricanes: Survey Says…Marketing Needs a Boost

The talk of the town right now is about a little ol’ survey that an intern for Public Policy Polling recently took concerning sports in North Carolina.

The results for a couple of the questions asked should be eye-openers for the Hurricanes organization—that is, if they want to be known outside the friendly confines of the state capital’s area code.

When residents were asked if they knew that there was a hockey team named the Carolina Hurricanes in the State of North Carolina, 18 percent of respondents answered no.

Lord Stanley’s Blog called the results “weird”—but are they really?

If we take a closer look at the survey results, they don’t seem weird to me.

The survey results are broken down into sub-categories by area code, gender, political affiliation, and race. Since, in my opinion, the location of respondents is most important, we will compare the area codes first. The area codes included 252, (Rocky Mount), 336, (Greensboro), 704, (Charlotte), 919, (Raleigh/Durham), and 910, (Wilmington and the coastal area). Obviously, the 919 area code had the most favorable results for the Hurricanes.

Now if we return to the question and compare the results by region, things make perfect sense. Only 6 percent in the Raleigh area say that they didn’t realize the Hurricanes existed. Let’s face it, 6 percent of the public wouldn’t be able to tell you the color of the sky if you asked them in a poll, so that number is meaningless.

But the results are alarming when you look at the remainder of the state. In Charlotte, the most populated region of the state, 19 percent don’t know about the team. In Greensboro, a major city just 45 minutes away, 17 percent say they didn’t know.

But, worst of all—in the Rocky Mount area, 28 percent responded that they hadn’t heard of the Hurricanes. Rocky Mount is about 45 minutes away from downtown Raleigh.

What do these results mean? Is this an indication that hockey can’t survive here because people hate the sport? Of course not. In my opinion, this simply means that the Hurricanes' marketing attempts and results have been feeble outside the Raleigh area code.

I believe that the Canes do a pretty good job of marketing in the local area. They take players to schools, they invite various local groups to open practices, and they are heavily involved with youth hockey in the area. But what do they do in Greensboro? How about Charlotte or Rocky Mount?

Perhaps they just don’t care about those areas? Puck Daddy got a hold of this story and called up the Hurricanes Director of Media Relations, Mike Sundheim

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