Exploring the New Jersey Devils’ Unique Legacy, Fan Engagement, and Community Impact with Jillian Frechette
Made in Jersey: Jillian Frechette on Sports Marketing & Fan Connection
In this episode of the MVP Interactive podcast, our CEO, James Giglio interviews Jillian Frechette, CMO of the New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center. Jillian shares her extensive background in sports marketing, her journey to the Devils, and the unique challenges and opportunities of representing a state team in a competitive market. The conversation delves into the ‘Made in Jersey’ campaign, community engagement initiatives, the significance of the Devils’ franchise history, and the evolving landscape of sports marketing, including the integration of technology and digital strategies. Jillian emphasizes the importance of connecting with diverse audiences and the future trends in sports marketing.
Highlights include:
02:58 Understanding the ‘Made in Jersey’ Campaign
06:03 Navigating the Competitive Sports Landscape in New Jersey
08:57 Community Engagement and Corporate Responsibility Initiatives
11:54 The Significance of the New Jersey Devils’ Franchise History
14:54 Marketing Strategies and Fan Engagement
18:08 Technology and Digital Strategy in Sports Marketing
21:03 Future Trends in Sports Marketing and Fan Experience
About Jillian Frechette
Over her 20-year trajectory, Jillian has become one of North America’s leading brand strategists
in the rapidly evolving sport and entertainment industry. With an entrepreneurial and creative mindset, she has worked with leading brands such as the New Jersey Devils, Prudential Center, Calgary Flames, Calgary Stampeders, Calgary2026 Olympic Bid, and Nike Canada to amplify fan engagement and build enterprise value.
In her current role as Chief Marketing Officer for the New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center, Jillian has led a highly successful transformation agenda over the past six seasons with record growth in ticket sales, retail revenue, and sponsorship value. Situated in one of the most highly competitive sports and entertainment markets in North America, Jillian’s creative and production teams have consistently developed and executed award-winning brand and content strategies, recognized as a best-in-class across the National Hockey League.
Jillian’s brand leadership in the sport and entertainment industry exemplifies the power of true integration across platforms: from grassroots community initiatives, venue assets, and sponsorship activation to influencer engagement, in-game experience, and digital storytelling. She has led accelerated pivots to digital value creation for NHL teams and entertainment venues through richly integrated layers that drive the evolution of live and virtual fan experiences.
With a lifelong passion for community service, Jillian brings the same focus and purpose to align brand engagement objectives with corporate social purpose initiatives to drive impact and connection, with a dedication to female-empowerment through sport. Her leadership in supporting expansion of youth hockey and growth initiatives throughout New Jersey has delivered unprecedented investment in e-gaming, rink refurbishments, and minor hockey partnerships including a new U12 girls hockey club.
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Podcast Transcript
James Giglio (00:01.258)
Right. And Welcome back to the next episode of the MVP interactive podcast. Today we have a very special guest, Jillian Frechette, is the CMO of the New Jersey Devils. Jillian, it’s great to have you. Welcome to the show.
Jillian (00:15.648)
Thank you very much for having me. I’m happy to be here.
James Giglio (00:18.144)
All right, awesome. And so just as a way of a little bit of background, Jillian is a leading brand strategist in the sports and entertainment industries with over 20 years of experience. She’s worked with top brands like the New Jersey Devils, obviously, the Calgary Flames, Nike Canada, and even the Calgary 2026 Olympic bid. Jillian, I’d imagine with that extensive background and spanning two different countries,
and a wide variation of brand integration and marketing. I would like to kind of kick this off with really understanding some of the great benefits and or challenges of working in one of the more prominent DMAs in the country and in Northern New Jersey because you have a large metropolitan area with New York City, obviously. And so I’m really interested to hear a little bit about your career journey.
that led you to New Jersey and then some of the unique efforts that you’re working on with the Devils.
Jillian (01:21.846)
That’s a big question. Well, thank you very much once again for having me. Career journey, it’s been fabulous. It all makes sense now. I think there’s been moments along the line that I sort of wondered, am I doing the right thing? Am I thinking about the right opportunity? Should I take this job? Should I not take this job? But in retrospect, a lot of the opportunities that I had, I was privileged to have. And I learned something very unique and different in each sort of…
James Giglio (01:23.318)
Okay.
Jillian (01:50.706)
seat that I sat in and certainly now in New Jersey I’m really fortunate I’ve been able to pull a lot of the different experiences and knowledge that I gleaned at each of those opportunities and really make it work for me here in the seat that I now sit in.
James Giglio (02:05.866)
Yeah, yeah. You know, from a typical stereotype with Canadians, you’re known to be very nice and jovial and just a friendly, friendly people. And then as a New Jersey native as myself, you know, I think there could be somewhat of a potential negative connotation for people’s gruffness or direct straightforwardness. So from a personality standpoint, how do you feel that you’ve made that transition?
Jillian (02:32.756)
That’s a great question. mean, hockey is my home. I’ve been in professional hockey for 10 to 12 years. I have to sort of think back and do the math, but certainly spent five or six seasons with the Calgary Flames and worked on an Olympic project briefly, which touched hockey, and then jumped over to New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center, which of course, a good portion of our business is hockey focused. And because I know and understand hockey,
so well, I always sort of feel comfortable here, but certainly there are differences in New Jersey and it was something that I had to delve into 2019, 2020 when we were actually building a brand identity campaign for the New Jersey Devils, which is now known as Made in Jersey. We did a lot of work, we did a lot of research, we did a lot of outreach to really sort of think about what it was that we could put in market that would have some stickiness and some relevance with new fans, existing fans, casual fans, and that became
our brand identity campaign called Made in Jersey. And the reason I flagged that is it’s really not a geography piece. We are a state team. We do proudly have New Jersey on our our jerseys, but the Made in Jersey campaign was more of sort of a physical mindset. It was more of an attitude that we sort of shaped and delivered to the marketplace. It’s been extremely well received, but for me, I had to really know and understand what it meant to be from Jersey, raised in Jersey, made in Jersey.
Lots of different cultural nuances, lots of food references. I had to really sort of get an MBA in Jerseyism to know and understand what it was that I wanted to launch and market. So I get what you’re after. I think there’s days that I fit right in and then there’s other days where I’m like, wow, what’s this? The only thing I really don’t care for and I’ll be really candid with you is I’m not that crazy about New Jersey drivers.
James Giglio (04:07.476)
Yeah.
James Giglio (04:24.702)
I was just going to say the turnpike must be a bit cultural.
Jillian (04:27.914)
Yeah, that is, with the exception of manners on the highways and the roadways, everything else about New Jersey has been really good to me and my family.
James Giglio (04:37.748)
That’s wonderful. That’s great. Well, we’re happy to have you even though I now am a full Pennsylvania Philadelphia resident, you know, I’ll never leave my Jersey roots there. you know, you touched on something pretty unique and to the characteristic of northern New Jersey or the greater northeast really is the diverse fan bases, right? And you had mentioned a little bit on the Made in Jersey campaign. But what other approaches have you have you guys taken to engage
you know, that are, you multicultural, so diverse from, you know, maybe some other cities that have a pretty homogenized demographic.
Jillian (05:20.804)
Yeah, I mean, I think there’s a couple of things that I would sort of answer or respond to you with that. Most teams, most professional sports teams with a handful of exceptions have city, not necessarily state. And I think there’s pros and cons to both. But one of the bigger challenges is that when you represent a state, typically you represent a bigger geography. So sort of finding those common elements can be a little trickier when you’re trying to connect with your fan base. So that’s sort of one piece.
James Giglio (05:32.566)
Right.
Jillian (05:50.208)
that makes things sometimes a little bit challenging here in New Jersey, but equally sometimes offers us more opportunity because we can go a little wider. We can go a little deeper. We can attract different folks from different towns and villages across the state. I think the other piece that makes New Jersey tricky is that sometimes to an extent we live in the shadow of New York. I can see it here from my office. It’s a fabulous city, but it is, you it’s a big neighbor to have. And what that does, it creates
James Giglio (06:03.668)
Yeah, absolutely.
Jillian (06:20.372)
a fairly cluttered marketplace. We have NBA, we have NFL, we have MLB, we have NHL, multiple NHL teams in this market. And then the entertainment dollar, when you look at it through a different lens, of gets more competitive and more cluttered in that Broadway is a competitor for the entertainment dollar and all of the offerings of New York becomes a competitor for the entertainment dollar. So it’s exciting to be in a market that’s got a lot of energy and buzz.
James Giglio (06:40.214)
after.
Jillian (06:49.012)
It’s exciting to sort of live in and amongst a big sort of media market and different broadcasters, but it’s not without its challenges because it is so cluttered. And when you think about other teams, even the team that I had worked for previously, the Calgary Flames, when they’re a city team, they sort of know that they can draw a circle around the city that they represent. Maybe there’s a secondary circle around maybe a more rural area wrapped around the city that they represent, but they know and understand where their fan base is.
James Giglio (06:57.364)
Yeah.
Jillian (07:15.392)
and they know and understand maybe where the competitors are or are not. And here it just gets a little bit more convoluted.
James Giglio (07:22.39)
Sure, sure. you know, to that point, I grew up in central New Jersey. And yes, I know that’s a big debate in terms of is there just a north and south, as a former resident, there is definitely a central New Jersey. And so I think in many ways that shaped, you know, to your point, not knowing where your career may go, but even as a child, I think where I grew up really sort of laid the groundwork in terms of what I ended up doing professionally. And so
Jillian (07:30.508)
Yes.
James Giglio (07:52.77)
I had the pleasure of getting both New York City and Philadelphia news channels and sports feed. So I had access to your point, to the Knicks, to the Devils, to the Eagles, to the Phillies, to the Mets, to the Yankees. And so I was just consuming sports and it really had shaped me and it was such a unique and pleasurable experience to just have so many options. As an organization, I can imagine how…
How daunting that can because everyone was fighting for my fandom, right? know, you had ten teams essentially, you know really targeting this so despite the the small stature of the state the per capita and the population and the density is really makes up for you know, the lack of geography I suppose but yeah, that’s a really good point and I didn’t even think about the Broadway and the entertainment piece and so is that
the type of thing that keeps you up at night or do you take that more of as a rewarding challenge to really overcome and to kind of set yourself apart in your efforts?
Jillian (08:57.132)
think it’s just one of a handful of things that I’m always mindful of. And while we’re on this topic, I would also point out that we’re the only professional sports team in New Jersey that proudly wears Jersey or New Jersey on our uniforms. But we actually share this space, this physical space, with multiple professional sports teams that have New York in their name that they practice and play in New Jersey. So when you start to think about what folks are going to plan to do with their families on weekends, it becomes even more competitive because you’ve got these New York teams.
James Giglio (09:07.104)
Right.
James Giglio (09:17.878)
That’s right.
Jillian (09:27.03)
that really honestly practice and play in New Jersey. So I’m always sort of mindful of, know, when we’re thinking about developing a marketing campaign or a ticketing campaign or something maybe more in the premium space, I’m always just really mindful about what other calendars and schedules look like for the professional teams that sort of circle us. What’s happening in New York, what’s big, what’s coming. You know, quite often we actually host the VMAs, but more recently the VMAs were over in Los
So we just sort of think about different things on our radar that are happening sort of in our orbit and we’re just always very mindful of it. So it doesn’t keep me up at night, but it never relieves me if that’s a better way of saying it.
James Giglio (10:04.256)
Sure, yeah, yeah, that’s fair. Keeping on that vein there, so in terms of the community messaging and the overall corporate responsibility of the New Jersey Devils, are there any initiatives that you’re pursuing related to sustainability or corporate social responsibility, giving such a diverse fan base?
Jillian (10:28.34)
Yeah, know, these are the community pieces are some of the most important to us as a brand, a team and a venue. Equally, they they really have like a soft spot in my heart because I love working on community centric programming. quite honestly, when you’re in a big brand, big brand, big venue in a city like Newark, you have an obligation to make sure that you take care of your neighbors. So I can give you a couple of different examples. Some are more Newark focused, some are more New Jersey focused. But one of our biggies is called Give 82.
It’s a program that we have in place where we literally leverage the sweat equity of our employees volunteering at different nonprofits throughout the year. We spend a lot of time at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. Quite often we’ll go there with a partner. There have been times that we’ve been there with a sponsor partner. Citizens is a great example. They often will join us there. And we’ll sort food for a half day. And there could be 75 of us. And we might do that once a quarter. So that’s a biggie. Give 82.
Equally that program, we spend time in the spring volunteering at Branchbrook Park, which is a really beautiful facility here in Newark, a beautiful outdoor park. So Give It E2 is really a, it’s a big one. It’s close to our hearts and it’s also a really nice one because we’re able to give back to our community wherever we land in a volunteer capacity. But equally it gives us the opportunity as employees to sort of like leverage a team building element that
I sometimes forget about until I show up at the food bank or until I show up at Branchport Park. It gives me a chance to meet folks and get to know folks better in ticket sales or maybe in box office that I don’t trip over every day. So that’s a special one to us. We have two other programs. One’s called Raise Jersey and one’s called Jersey Shops. Essentially they are initiatives that sort of spotlight and amplify organizations in New Jersey.
The difference is that Raise Jersey spotlights and amplifies nonprofit and social service agencies, and Jersey shops spotlights and amplifies small businesses in New Jersey that have roots in Jersey and ties to Jersey. So we really love those ones. And then probably last but not least, we have a program called Food Forward Jersey. It’s a food recovery program. So when there’s surplus food in our venue on a concert night or a hockey game that we’re not able to use, we work with the food bank.
Jillian (12:50.98)
and they help us sort of QB this initiative. And we identify five, six or seven social service agencies, usually in the Newark vicinity that could benefit from some surplus foods. So that might be a women’s mission. It could be some kind of street shelter. It could be some afterschool programming for boys and girls that need some nutrition and some support at the end of the school day. So that’s another biggie for us. Those are just four. We work with a lot of great sponsor partners. So sometimes we will support them.
with some of their community initiatives, which we love to do. But those are four that are sort of near and dear to our heart.
James Giglio (13:26.582)
Great. And you had referenced the give 82. Is there a significance to that number in particular?
Jillian (13:31.338)
Yes, sure is. 82 games in an NHL season.
James Giglio (13:34.277)
okay. So giving
Jillian (13:36.192)
The idea, yeah, the idea, and it’s a tall order, but the idea is that our employees on our dime would offer 82 hours of service throughout the calendar year. And so we track that and we try to sort of have a friendly competition internally to see who can really nail it. Give 82 generally is a more organized sort of bigger initiative, but certainly we have some employees that will donate time.
James Giglio (13:46.748)
Okay, I love that.
Jillian (14:05.752)
if they’ve got a particular skill set or expertise with some smaller organizations in a less sort of like group setting. One of our web developer who’s phenomenally talented with UX and digital capabilities donates time to a social service agency walking distance from a Prudential Center and that counts towards his Give 82.
James Giglio (14:27.786)
That’s great. Yeah, I absolutely love that. You know, and I think what’s lost a lot of times is New Jersey Devils is a great brand, but it’s a relatively young franchise, right? I think, you know, was growing up, I just assumed the New Jersey Devils were always an NHL team, you know, it’s in the scheme of things. I mean, you think about some of these other, you know,
New York teams that have been around 100 years or what have you. I’d imagine having the community outreach and these efforts that are so specific to New Jersey and creating that bond and sort of that pride that everyone shares. Have you seen, I guess talk to me a little bit about like is the age of the franchise an issue or a concern or?
something that factors into your marketing plans or just as a brand in general.
Jillian (15:28.396)
That’s a good question. I don’t think I’ve been asked that before. I mean, I think what I would tell you is we’re four decades, just over four decades in New Jersey. We started here as the New Jersey Devils in 1982. We celebrated our 40th anniversary two seasons ago, which was a really sort of fabulous moment. In theory, I suppose as a franchise, we’re a little older than that because we had roots in Colorado as the Colorado Rockies. And then prior to that in Kansas City.
as the Kansas City Chiefs. So both of those teams sort of morphed and evolved and eventually become in the early 80s what the New Jersey Devils are. think. Yes, yes, and we certainly, if you look back at the roster of.
James Giglio (16:04.266)
great. What a fun fact. I had no idea of that origin.
Jillian (16:12.064)
The last year of the Colorado Rockies and the first year of the New Jersey Devils, there’s several names, including one of our radio broadcasters, Chico Rush, who played for both teams. So there’s some fun, some fun stories and details sort of in our history or lineage, if you will. But what makes this team and this brand so special is that we’re fortunate enough to have three Stanley Cups in our rear view mirror. And teams that win championships, you know, evoke sort of memories and moments for folks.
And it happens in real time, of course it does. But it’s always amazing to go and to do something in the community with one of our alumni that wears one of those beautiful rings. Because, you know, little kids who are now big kids, if not adults, they remember Scott Stevens, they remember Martin Brodeur, they remember Patrick Elias, they know what t-shirt they wore when game seven was on the television. And those are my favorite moments about professional sports, particularly hockey, is the memories that
Something big, a big event with your team can have or achieve what that impact is later in life. And I think that’s where New Jersey is really special. We might only be 40 years young, but with three championships in our rear view mirror and some amazing players on the ice right now, there’s always something for me to talk about with folks out in the community and I feel very privileged for that.
James Giglio (17:34.752)
Yeah, that’s right. know, winning cures everything, right?
Jillian (17:38.442)
Well does, but you know, think the thing about professional sports, winning’s amazing, there’s no question, we love it. We won yesterday, it was great. But it’s the journey. And it’s the ups and the flows and it’s the ups and the downs and sometimes it’s the heartbreak. Remembering a game seven that didn’t quite go your way, maybe you were 12. But you’ll always remember that save and you’ll always remember that shot. I think that the winning’s fabulous and I’ll never shy away from that. But it’s the stories and the journeys and the memories that
that make folks lifelong fans.
James Giglio (18:10.046)
This is all very true, very true. As a Phil O’Fia fan, I know the pain and suffering, and so it just keeps you coming back, absolutely. So we talked a lot about overall community messaging and broader marketing efforts that you’ve been able to spearhead. And so I suppose I’d be remiss if we didn’t transition to a little bit of technology as a creative technology.
Jillian (18:18.945)
That’s right.
James Giglio (18:38.656)
company and host, we’d like to touch on emerging trends of what’s happening in the realm of not only fan experience, but technology and digital and social strategies. And so maybe we start there on social media and digital strategy. You referenced a colleague of yours who’s very talented on the digital piece, but how do you balance traditional marketing with the fast paced social media with TikToks and.
other digital platforms that helps keep the brand relevant.
Jillian (19:09.836)
That’s a great question. I think it’s really fluid and that sounds like a silly answer, but I think that we in this space, marketing professional sports team, trying to sort of be meaningful and relevant to a fan base and a population in New Jersey where things are cluttered and trying to sort of be sticky and meaningful and relevant across social platforms and digital platforms, it’s just an ongoing challenge. It’s a challenge that…
Me and my group have really sort of come to love and I think there’s a few things that sort of enter into it. One is just really sort of knowing and understanding your audience and equally the audience that you’re going after. One of our challenges here in New Jersey is that we always want to be thinking about growing and diversifying our audience. So we want to be meaningful to a younger audience. We want to be meaningful to a more diverse audience. We want to offer sort of content, hockey coverage.
entertaining social stuff to a really sort of wide group of people. I think the other piece that works for us is that we, through the lens of our Made in Jersey campaign, we try not to take ourselves too too seriously. So you will notice that if you follow us on social platforms, could be Instagram, could be Facebook, could be whatever, sometimes we’re a little bit saucy and we’re a little bit cheeky, but that’s us being very authentic to our Jersey roots.
and really sort of minding and honoring the Maiden Jersey platform that we established three or four years ago. And it’s done very well with our fans. At the end of the 2018-2019 season, the NHL measures all of this stuff, we were 29th in the league. And at the end of this regular season that we just wrapped up, so last sort of March, April, we finished number two in the league. And we were a team at that point that wasn’t headed to the postseason, unfortunately.
So to rise from 29th across digital and social metrics to number two is a great accomplishment. I’m certainly really proud of my team because they’ve worked hard to get there, but we never rest. We want to do really well this year as well. So you’ll notice we do a great job of offering comprehensive coverage of the team, but equally we try to be sort of fun and edgy and saucy is kind of the word that I come back to.
Jillian (21:32.78)
And when we win, take a look at our post-game memes, because they’re usually a little bit cheeky.
James Giglio (21:39.132)
That’s awesome. I actually, I love that stuff. The authenticity and you know, given that you are still a large brand and you know, and have responsibilities and all of that good stuff. It is important that fans still feel connected that there’s a human element to this and you know, the general society acts and behaves and appreciates humor. And so to be able to broadcast that on your social channels, I’d imagine is really effective and one that I certainly appreciate.
know, the one thing that came to mind as you were explaining, you know, the uniqueness of representing an entire state and the scalability of social media and, you know, the sheer reach of what you’re capable of doing. Is it an effort to really go all in on this on the New Jersey community or is there a part of you that likes to think of like, OK, how can we get some fans from the north or the east or the south from from New Jersey to kind of
really buy into our brand. Just something that.
Jillian (22:39.775)
Well, I mean, that’s a great question and it’s tough for me to answer with one answer as you might imagine. But let me say it this way. We know that as a team, when we think about sort of like a geography, we are primarily Northern New Jersey’s team, primarily. We certainly have fans in New York. We certainly have fans in Connecticut and we might even have a few fans in South Jersey, but we know that we are primarily North Jersey. When you get sort of further down the state, getting a little closer to your neck of the woods,
James Giglio (22:45.632)
Sure.
Jillian (23:09.868)
there are more people that lean flyers and that’s fine. Having said that, we also know that social media and digital content really allows us to expand our reach. And so when you look at the roster of our team, we, not all of our, or very few of our…
our players are New Jersey born. I’m not even sure if I’ve got one this season. We’ve got an international element and we certainly have a Canadian element. So we have the opportunity to grow our brand and our team following in other places. And that couldn’t have been more visually obvious to me than our first two games of the season were held in Prague. And…
It was a phenomenal experience for our team, for our partners, for some of our staff and executives. But what was amazing and what was really truly sort of the observation across the organization was how many people in Devil’s gear were showing up at this amazing venue in Prague, speaking all different languages with just head to toe devils. So it was a real fun surprise for me and just a reminder that with an international roster,
James Giglio (24:11.68)
amazing.
Jillian (24:22.442)
We have the opportunity to appeal to folks from Switzerland or wherever some of our big guys are from and really sort of grow the fan base. And I won’t forget it. it’s in my mind, it’s in my mind’s eye of what that rink looked like and all the different languages that I heard. Devil’s gear was sort of the unifying factor.
James Giglio (24:35.03)
That’s us.
James Giglio (24:42.478)
That’s fantastic. Yeah. And obviously we know some of the initiatives that other leagues are doing overseas, whether it’s the NBA, the NFL, and now Major League Baseball. Is the NHL making a similar effort or is this more of a per organization initiative?
Jillian (25:01.012)
Now, the Global Series, which is what we participated in, we played two games in early October against Buffalo. They were counted as regular season games for the New Jersey Devils and the Buffalo Sabres. Certainly the NHL, that’s their initiative. They were sort of host to the Global Series. They have another few games in early November that two different teams in the league will participate in. It’s just a little bit different than maybe how the NFL or the NBA shows up.
But the league has been active in international markets for over a decade and we were just really happy and privileged to participate this year in Prague, just an amazing city. And for us, so fun. Patrick Ilias is one of our esteemed alumni and Prague is home to him. So that was another element for Devils fans, know, particularly those that remember, you know, Patrick on the team in sort of the cup winning years.
James Giglio (25:45.716)
Fenty.
Jillian (25:56.012)
It was a really nice bridge of nostalgia for some of our older fans, but of course our young guys were on the ice in Prague.
James Giglio (26:02.518)
Yeah, that’s very cool, very cool. Well, I want to talk a little bit more about partnerships and potential brand collaborations that you’ve taken under. And obviously, you play at the Prudential Center. Prudential being a founding partner of the organization and great partner. Happy to share and announce that we are also a valued, or they’re a valued client of ours now. And we’ll talk a little bit about that. But could you share some insights into some of
or successful partnerships, whether it’s on corporate partnerships or even brand collaborations that you’ve taken on.
Jillian (26:39.468)
Sure, I mean we’re really fortunate as a team. have a lot of, we call them partners, but essentially it’s a corporate partner or a sponsor partner. We call them partners because we really do believe that when we sign a deal and then eventually sort of bring that deal to life, that our corporate partners are true partners in that. And it’s definitely accurate. Our big three are Prudential, who you’re quite familiar with now.
RWJ Barnabas Health and then Citizens. And they’re just wonderful people that we get to work with. They have wonderful employees and then our points of contact are great people too. And I think what’s been nice over the years, and I’m just going into my seventh season, is that they’re really willing to have conversations about new and different programs and opportunities. And so there’s different things that we’ve been able to sort of experiment with, with these big three.
or at least trial that maybe we haven’t trialed before. And a great example that of course you’re quite familiar with is a new activation in Prudential Center inside Prudential Lounge in partnership with Prudential. It’s a digital activation and allows our fans the opportunity in a premium space to sort of test their trivia and really just sort of experience hockey from a different dimension.
James Giglio (27:58.868)
Yeah, absolutely. And so, well, thank you for that shout out. And for listeners that are aware of our company, we have had the great experience of producing an amazing augmented reality photo opportunity where, based on the series of questions that you answer, you’re actually paired with the most similar devil’s play of likeness of those particular answers. And then you can take a photo of yourself with the player and
have that distributed and shared across all of your platforms. And so, you know, that’s a great fan experience and it’s great that we’re going to be able to also offer fans that experience on the concourse during game nights. But in terms of other technology, what can a fan expect when they attend a Devil’s Game from a fan experience standpoint? And can you talk to us a little bit about those initiatives, even if it’s not technology focused?
Jillian (28:54.437)
No, I mean that’s a great question. We’re in year two of a new relationship with our concessionaire, which is Levi. And so there’s been a lot of changes in the last, call it 12 to 24 months. And some great changes. There’s more…
ability to sort of get through lineups a little bit quicker, a bigger and broader offering at our concession stands, and certainly some investment with Mash Gin and
different frictionless opportunities for our fans to go through. sometimes technology works best when our fans actually don’t notice. And I would say that the ease of use with some of the upgrades that our relationship with Levy has afforded us have been quite amazing. Equally, if you scan around the building, there’s always something new. We have a new virtual tour that we’ve invested in, and it really…
offers us the opportunity to connect with fans when they’re still at home to sort of figure out where they want to go in the arena, how they want to get there, where they should park, maybe where they should enter. And it gives us the opportunity when those same fans enter the building to leverage it as a wayfinding tool. And it’s all done through our app. We have a Prudential Center and New Jersey Devils app, which sort of cares for both brands and both sets of experiences, concerts and events, as well as hockey games.
James Giglio (30:03.914)
That’s wonderful.
Jillian (30:12.724)
There’s always new technology that we’re trialing and experimenting wrapped around our experience in BOL in Venue. We’ve got some refreshed projection this year, so the ICE is quite animated pre and post game, so that’s fun for us. It’s not brand new technology, but we did some work over the summer to refresh our system, and it’s just one more element that allows our immersive experience in BOL to feel that much more animated. So that’s a biggie. But yeah, in a venue like ours,
Every year you need to be investing and you need to be investing from multiple dimensions and some of it’s in premium spaces which we’ve done more recently with the build of our Prudential Lounge and our Pier Club. Some of it’s through the lens of food and beverage and then some of it’s just straight up fan experience like the whiz bang of producing a game and making sure that people really feel jazzed and energized when they experience it in bowl because we all know that that sort of cluttered market that you and I touched on earlier
or the entertainment dollar, what we didn’t say out loud is that one of those pieces of competition is the comfort of one’s own home and the choices from an entertainment perspective that somebody can just tap a button and select, whether that be Netflix or an Amazon offering that wasn’t there before. That’s also sort of a competitive piece that we always need to be mindful of.
James Giglio (31:28.502)
Sure.
James Giglio (31:35.24)
Absolutely. So early in our process, when our teams were speaking and framing out the experiences, we did have the great experience of attending a game. And I had a fantastic time in terms of the music and the Jersey flair to all of the in-game promotion and the projection on the ice. I just had a great time experiencing that and feeling really that sense of Jersey pride again come out.
That little bit of humor that you had spoken about earlier, I do remember some of the content on the Jumbotron and the music themes were fun and kitsch as well. So all around great experience and I’m definitely interested to check out the Wayfinding app. It’s been something as a technologist that I found incredibly or find incredibly valuable for many, years. I recall, geez, probably about 10 years ago when
eye beacons were going to change the world. never took off, but stadiums really trying to leverage eye beacons as a part of that wave finding. And obviously that didn’t take off, but I’m always interested in learning and hearing about which teams are implementing that into their mobile strategy as well. go ahead.
Jillian (32:51.936)
Yeah, I would say our mobile app is a big deal to us and we’re just constantly sort of thinking about how to enhance it, how to add more and how to really be that like utility that our fans need and crave in the palm of their hand. We’ve got a concession finder and a beer finder in addition to sort of that full scale virtual tour and the way finding through augmented reality that I mentioned, but we’re just always thinking about how does this be sort of like your best buddy on the way to the rink, in the rink, on the way home.
So we’ll never be finished with sort of thinking and contemplating about what we want to do next with our app.
James Giglio (33:26.92)
Yeah, and that’s great. I was on a panel last week and I made a reference to, know, the fan experience really starts when your alarm clock goes off, right? And so it’s a full day. There’s elements throughout the day as a fan that you have to prepare and as a property, you know, how you reach those individuals. So that’s an interesting comment about how you’re handling your mobile initiative in terms of creating that buddy. Because I just think that that’s a great touch point that
that really transcends the actual game time and into their everyday lives. So that’s really smart.
Jillian (34:02.884)
It’s fun and truly when we built a new app, guess two seasons ago, we did it in partnership with a great vendor in Philadelphia, Yinscam. We really wanted something for our fans and of course, that’s still job one. But what we found is our app has become a tool for internal purposes and that in meetings, in conversations, just through daily life.
I grab it and sit with a lot of my colleagues, equally my boss, many times a day, just even to check the schedule. Because it is that utility. So it’s not just fan-facing, it’s equally an internal tool, and I’m very glad for that.
James Giglio (34:40.17)
that’s great. That’s great. Well, Jillian, this has been fantastic. We’re near our time, but I do want to end the show with one hard hitting question. I don’t mean to put you on the spot here, but when we look to the future, what trends do you see?
Jillian (34:49.619)
Geez, okay.
James Giglio (34:59.327)
in the future of sports marketing in the NHL and even internally within your organization because it sounds like you guys are always thinking five years out already. So maybe this isn’t a hard hitting question for you, but interested to hear your thoughts.
Jillian (35:15.02)
Trends of future. Well, I think what we touched on earlier from a digital and social perspective, constantly thinking about engaging and driving engagement and connecting with fans on digital is just going to be sort of an ongoing journey. Hockey for us is 12 months a year. Gone are the days that we sort of thought about it in September or October through to sort of April or May and then took a really big dark break.
That’s not what hockey is. So digital and social media engagement and the evolution of that will continue to be something that is on everyone’s mind who works in professional sports. I think the other piece that will continue on, and certainly there’s been great strides made, is data analytics, business intelligence.
maybe one step further, leveraging a lot of that data for personalization and customization. I think that’s a big use for fans. What that looks like for the New Jersey Devils is a great question, but we were really mindful of how do we really connect with people, not just groups of people, but individuals and clusters of people. I think the other piece that’s important and should be important for big venues and big teams is sustainability and social responsibility. I think there’s a great sort of…
know, portion of the population, sometimes they skew a little younger that really want to know what we stand for, who we are, what our social purpose might be, what we might offer. And that’s important. It’s something you need to be really thoughtful of because it’s not something that you’re going to change once a year and you shouldn’t. So that’s a big deal. And then, you know, the pieces that…
that fit in next are sort of like AR and VR. Like how does that all work? And we’re sort of in the middle of that journey in some ways. It’s not brand new, but where does that get integrated and woven in and how do we leverage that? And how do we really sort of up our game as marketers and as teams to offer fans either in our venue or watching from home, sort of that next level opportunity for entertainment.
James Giglio (37:14.422)
Yeah, absolutely. And as a fan of Apple’s Vision Pro and, you know, their relationship and ability with streaming content, I do look forward to a day that, you know, we can experience NHL hockey in that particular headset because it’s, you know, one from a technology standpoint, far and above most others. just to not to dispel my personal opinion too much, but I do agree with you there that the future is exciting.
Well, Jillian, this was fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us. We like to give our listeners the opportunity to reach out to you. So whatever you’re comfortable with sharing on how folks could reach out if they want to continue this conversation or where can we find you?
Jillian (38:00.624)
You can find me on X, formerly known as Twitter. I’m pretty good about responding. LinkedIn is fine as well, depending if it’s a more corporate or business question. But yeah, I’m happy to connect and keep the conversation going. I certainly thank you for the opportunity to chat.
James Giglio (38:19.678)
my pleasure. It was fantastic. Thank you. And so to our listeners, thank you for listening. And until next time, I hope you enjoyed our MVP protest with Jillian. Thank you.
