Volume 1, No. 10. June 15, 2001
Icing on the season
Ice hockey and swimming have one
key common factor. "They're both kind of water related," Kenny Handle said just
barely convincingly. No matter. The manager of Wave Waterpark in Vista, California,
has married the ultimate winter sport with his summer-focused business in a
now-annual promotion featuring the local minor league hockey team, the San Diego
Gulls.
On the Memorial Day holiday—the Monday of the park's season opening weekend—members
of the Gulls, their mascot, and the Gulls Girls cheerleaders visit Wave, signing
autographs and posing for pictures with fans. As part of the promotion, the
park offers half-price admission to any youths wearing their ice or roller hockey
league jerseys. In return for the Gulls' participation in opening weekend, the
waterpark sponsors a number of promotions for the Gulls during their season,
including ticket giveaways.
Handler first hooked up with the Gulls last year, and despite their respective
summer-versus-winter focus—the hockey season even ends a couple weeks before
the waterpark season begins—the two proved a perfect fit. "The Gulls are
looking to promote themselves just as much as we are," Handler said. "I'm trying
every angle I can to get everyone here."
Last year was the first in the partnership, and, Handler said, "It went surprisingly
smooth, and we had a decent showing. It was something we took a chance on and
it worked out pretty good." With its "very, very small marketing budget," Wave,
owned and operated by the City of Vista, can not afford billboards and other
traditional media outlets, so the mention on the electronic scoreboard during
Gulls games, which average 6,000 fans, is an effective substitute. Furthermore,
the West Coast Hockey League champion Gulls come much cheaper than the area's
major league sports teams, the football Chargers and, representing that other
popular summer pasttime, the baseball Padres.
"With the Padres you have to deal with agents and fine-print contracts," Handler
said. With the Gulls, "You ask if they can be there and throw them some tickets
for their families and they usually show. And they are very nice. Not that the
Padres aren't nice, but you have more hoops to jump through with them."
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