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Marcie Demmans was ready to celebrate with other Taylor Swift fans Saturday night and potentially win tickets to see her live again in a year’s time.
The Windsor Spitfires are hosting a Taylor Swift-themed night, where the team will be giving away two tickets to Swift’s final show in Toronto on Nov. 23, 2024.
Demmans was able to get tickets for one of Swift’s shows in Detroit earlier this year as part of the musician’s Eras Tour and tickets to Saturday night’s game.
But when she fell sick this week, she knew she wouldn’t be able to attend the Spitfires’ home game against the Saginaw Spirit.
For Swifties like Demmans, who are not big hockey fans, “the appeal to go to a game when there is an opportunity to win tickets makes you want to go to the game a little bit more.”
Two other Swifties who will be going to Saturday’s game are hockey fans and they saw the Spitfires’ promotion as a win-win.
“When we saw that, we [said], ‘Perfect. We get to go to a Spitfires game, we get to go to Taylor Swift night and try to win tickets for the concert,'” said Amy Vidican, accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter Everly.
There’s extra motivation for Everly if they are the lucky ones.
“If we win the tickets, this would be [Everly’s] first concert,” said Amy, who previously saw Swift on her Reputation Tour five years ago.
Spits focusing on potential new and young fans
The Spitfires’ themed night comes as they have been struggling on the ice this year.
The team is in last place in the overall Ontario Hockey League standings, having only won one of their first eight games of the season.
The team’s marketing department says the plan to hold the themed night and give the tickets away was planned during the summer.
“We’re trying to make a focus on getting a younger audience and new fans that have never had the chance to experience wonderful Spitfires hockey,” said Remo Agostino, a member of the Spitfires’ marketing department. “We thought, ‘What better way to go after that young audience that maybe has not been here before than to do something with Taylor Swift.'”
Agostino says Swift’s songs will be played, friendship bracelets will be available in the concourse and fans are encouraged to come in their favourite Eras Tour costume.
“When people come in, they’re really going to get that feeling that they’re at not just a hockey game, they’re being entertained with something else as well,” he said.
The team’s themed night also comes as Swift has been seen at NFL games and with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce. The Chiefs, the National Football League (NFL) and the league’s broadcasters have been making the most of their rumoured relationship
“We can see that the NFL/Chiefs/broadcasters are using a technique called influencer marketing which relates to using star power to gain attention/attraction to a product,” says Nick Welsh, the Spitfires’ manager of communications, media and community relations, in an email. “It’s good for them to leverage that on that level of resources, however we don’t have that kind of resources at our level.”
Expert says Spits’ strategy is a good one
However, a marketing expert says what the Spitfires are doing is viable.
“It is a means of communicating with the consumer,” said Peter Voyer, associate professor of marketing with the University of Windsor.
Voyer says the current economic situation facing Canadians could also be playing a role.
“We see that consumers have considerably lower disposable income largely as a result of inflationary trends that we’ve experienced now,” he says. “There’s less discretionary spending on the part of consumers.”
Voyer agreed that for Windsor-based Swifties looking to attend one of her shows in Toronto next year, it would be worth it to spend a fraction of the value of tickets to one of Swift’s shows on an event where attendees have a chance to go to the concert.
The cheapest ticket available on StubHub for the Nov. 23, 2024 show is $1,814. The most expensive ticket available for the Spitfires’ game on Saturday is $42.80.
For Demmans, being forced to give away her tickets was “a little heartbreaking”, but she has made her peace with it.
“I didn’t think I would even have a chance at winning, anyway,” she said. “There’s more for the environment and the atmosphere, so it’s not the end of the world. I’d rather not spread my germs to people and whoever wins, good for them.”
“That’s going to be a great time for them.”
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