San Jose Sharks Enhanced Experiences and More with Doug Bentz

San Jose Sharks Enhanced Experiences and More with Doug Bentz

Hello everyone from SAP Center in San Jose. It is myself, AJ Jules, and we’re pleased to be joined by our good friend, chief marketing officer of your San Jose Sharks. And first things first, just look that way, and we’re just going to just clean us up. Things will slowly disappear. Hey, hey, that mean that means it’s in demand, which in my world is good. So if a couple things go missing and that’s okay. Give him Yeah, I’ll take it. Awesome. Um, so obviously we’re big fans. AJ’s already rocking uh the the classic, you know, one. Mine’s over there, but uh let’s talk about Heritage 2.0. Yes, we had a Heritage 1.0 for a couple of times. Some people were kind of wondering if it was going to be the the white heritage, but I like how we went to 2.0. Why? Why 2.0? Yeah. So, uh, first, thanks for having me. It’s always fun fun to hang out. This is this is my ability to do show and tell as an adult. So, I always love that. Um, so yeah, Heritage 2.0. So, I I I think I think we’ve started what has been a fan appreciated tradition of every five years having a new jersey. Yeah. Um, I I think I can’t can’t cannot still take enough feedback that people love the original logo. Um, but I but I think trying to a theme a theme of maybe everything we’re going to talk about today is like how we make things fresh, how we change things, how like we got we got really a new look on the ice. How can we bring that to the experience throughout? Whether that be merchandise, jerseys, giveaways, and whatnot. So, I think we wanted to change it up. I think knowing in the last two or three years how much we’ve celebrated the players from this era. I think it made a connection to hey this this was a very good era in Sharks hockey like how can we represent that not only for those who live through it but for some of the new fans that maybe have less of a connection to this jersey this era to kind of introduce that tell some stories celebrate the players um who wore that. DJ soundcheck and you might want to get closer to the mic. So, so, so that that was that was that was a lot of the rationale to how how we came to uh to pick this one. Gotcha. Now, obviously, we’ve been waiting on this, but we have seen hints of a 35 logo. Well, okay. Will not we can’t zoom here, but we do we do we will have an official 35th anniversary logo. Um, patch. I do not think we’re going to do a patch on the on a patch for fans. Got it. Got it. Okay. Excellent. Oh, you’re getting rid of me. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, um Jules, no. What do I do? No, you can’t. Oh, okay. No, no, but it’s going to be a hot seller. Uh since we’re recording this, it hasn’t sold out yet, but it I would expect it is going to be a big big hit. Yeah. From what you’ve seen from social, I think I think based on just the unveil this morning, I think it’s been overwhelmingly positive, which for my seat is always nice for me. Makes my job a little easier to be honest. Um, I I think what has been interesting is there’s obviously fans who have a connection to this jersey. I mean, AJ here has his. Um, and talking to Brody about this earlier, he was wearing his jersey. exciting again that that connection, but I think there’s a lot of new fans that really like the look and can actually sport this and again maybe start to show off the uh the the era and the players and get connected to them. Oh yes, look at that. Well, that’s this is one of my grails. That’s for work, right? No. Yeah. This is a this is the Nike prototype jersey uh from 1996. Uh someone said, “What if we put a zipper on it?” and everybody went, “No, but I I like But it’s kind of in the sense of you’re refreshing something. You’re trying to you’re trying to update something like the I mean, the original jersey was was amazing, but now it’s kind of like a little more modern twist to everything and and and definitely doing that nowadays.” Yeah, I I think I think that’s again in in kind of everything we’re doing, how do we modernize without totally losing the roots to the past? So obviously modern cut. I mean we we can kind of have a comparison here. It’s a modern cut. It is our current teal which is a little bit different than the old teal. The neckline. So the old dipping neckline. Yeah. We actually paid homage to in in this neckline. Um which actually happens to look like teeth. Yeah. Those who are uninitiated, they may just think those are teeth, but it’s actually the old low neckline. And then obviously sharks for life is something that we’ve used in the past. And I don’t think that really goes away. I think that really represents how a lot of people feel about about the team. No, I Jules, I mean I you’re the youngster of of all of us. I’m going to ask you I mean live in this jersey but No, go ahead. I wasn’t. It’s not a lie. But I mean I mean th this is unique from any of the other jerseys that you’ve seen in your lifetime. Oh, 100%. Like you look at um like I think they kind of did something close in the reverse retro and the co year, but co is a blur. So what is that? Um I loved it. It was great. Um no, but this is awesome. Like I texted Puck both I texted Paka I was like this this is great and I think for like the younger generation that didn’t kind of see that era of Sharks hockey this is great for them to even like even in the video they had like you know alumni in it. They had uh ton of guys in there. Reachi. Love Reachi. So, which made me wonder, were Marlo and Thornton busy? Couldn’t make couldn’t make the video this time. Everyone has their different priorities. We we we work with whoever uh whoever’s there. So, have you But I but I think again this gives us an opportunity to actually celebrate all those guys again um this year with the alumni nights which I I think will be cool which Gordon obviously on November 20th is is kind of his own with the with the hockey hall of fame but we’ll have Marlo on uh on December 3rd which would be fun with him him Nabi and Richi together being honored which again just those guys are just such great people and great personalities that this just gives us another platform to to honor Well, see, I I consider this jersey like the first time that the Sharks had, not to disparrage anybody else, but a captain, an Owen Nolan that really gave the team an identity that I don’t know that this team had before. And then you bring in Ari again, another guy who uh definitely had, shall we say, personality. Uh but really gave the Sharks an identity along with the jersey that was so different from anything else that existed in the NHL at all at that at that point. To your point, it really does take us back to an era of Dan Foose and Friezen and Regi and Nolan and just even uh well, God, Mark Edward Vlic, I believe, wore this jersey, right? Like, talk about putting it all around. Pavs wore this for a season. So, I mean, in 53. Yeah, it does. It does. It does connect a lot of a lot of players here. Uh, was Pavs Are you trying to say Pavs might be here on an alumni night? No. No, I’m just barely barely playing. Thought I’d sneak that one in there. They’re not going to wear these on 90s night. Well, obviously these are just going to, you know, blow out the door. The one thing I do keep seeing on social media that they definitely want to ask when do they get a white version? Whether it’s the original this some sort of everybody I hear from their big question is when do we get an away heritage? Is that even a possibility? So may maybe people have to wait 5 years. Yeah, I was going to say 40 is a nice round number. I I think under under the cadence and I think we’ve got a ton of great feedback like bringing these back. So the this is not a third jersey. This is actually a special exemption with the league. We asked for a special circumstance. We’re we’re only allowed to wear these four times. So we’re not picking only four just because we want to So that So there there are some restrictions. If your question is are we gonna make like the white a full third jersey? I we’re not we’re not there yet. But no, they’re just saying they’re just asking anytime they do you guys do any type of a heritage like the last three have always been a home, they want to know if they’re ever going to do an away version. Yes. So, so no. I I I think I think it’s not a no. So, to So, again, we’re going to get in the weeds here in this, which maybe is not the fun stuff, but Well, if I don’t ask, then I get yelled at 100%. So, remember remember the white reverse retro? We did style. So, when we have a white jersey, we then have to get approval for every team that we play against. Oh, so that that sometimes can limit the ability for us to wear it at home, which to me like that’s that I want to protect our fans of seeing the jerseys in front of them at home. Sure. So again, the the the white jerseys that we wear on the ice aren’t a no. It just makes it much more complicated where it’s kind of got to be a special occasion. Now, to your point, we’ve had three heritage jerseys. They’ve all been teal. Mh. If our if our goal is to try to freshen it up, maybe the next time this comes around, that’s something we take into consideration. So, you can put it on tape. Show me show me in a couple years and remind me that I said that. I was going to say, well, to your point, you have five years to plan. Yes. Start planning. Yeah. Tomorrow. So, uh, do we want to move on from the jerseys? I mean, well, the big thing. Yeah. Uh, but well, hold on. So, everybody can get these online now. This is being recorded. Yes. Yeah. Uh the day before when we’re actually on here. Uh so these are all available on the web sharks.com now. So yes, as as this is going to be aired, they’ll be available on sharksproshop.com. That’s going to be the easiest way to do that. And personalization available in in the font. So that so that that that is maybe something that is unique to this given it is such a unique font on the name and numbers. The only customization is going to have to be stitched and sent out. We won’t have this in the arena with just the press on. Good. So, you can customize, but to make it even more authentic and to make sure it’s right, you’re going to have to send it in. Damn skimpy. That’s all I’m hoping for. All right. Now, oh yeah, we got Just to let you know, this is going to be the next thing that blows out of the uh store. Look at that. unsealable. So, I mean, a tie-dyed hoodie, the original logo, embroidered patch, but look at I’ve never seen the San Jose Sharks logo. I’ve seen the Sharks. I’ve never seen San Jose done in the Chomp font like this. Yeah. As this is going to sell so hard. So, yeah. So, I think again this the same theme here. How do we change things up? How do we keep them fresh? I think we’ve done a lot of collabs with with merch companies over the last couple years. I think we’re leaning even farther into that. And then even something like this design, you you’ll have kind of your your just your anniversary logoed items, but how can then we take that and actually make it more vintage, more nostalgic on a wide array of items. So, I think that’s a great example of of something that’s going to be in the store over the coming year. I think we have some things even back here which um here Vanna, I got you. I have to explain. I’ll have to explain to her who Vanna is too. You know better than this is uh this is from a company called Warren Lotus. Uh again this style of you know nostalgic styled something that you probably haven’t seen before coming from us certainly um and trying to just reach new fans kind of have a different level. Again we’re looking at at the shark tooth pattern there. So kind of a little bit of old and a little bit of new. Um this this is actually we’re gonna um we’re gonna start pre-selling that next week. So that’s coming very soon. No one’s seen that. So tell me this would like appeal to the like the wrestling crowd, right? That kind of vibe to it. Yeah. Okay. Is this going on pre-sale? Um that that that I don’t have a date yet. Um but then even like here back again just new different designs trying to appeal to a wide variety of fans. Um that’s from a company called Duckco. Um, so really really just trying to h have a wide array of fresh fresh merchandise so people can show off their their love of the sharks and not be logoed logoed items. Here here’s another this one’s maybe for a little bit of of the even younger generation but kind of this like graffiti style. Again, a little bit more about San Jose. So again, we’re trying to get a wide variety things that are unique to us. Oh, this is the back. I thought it was the front. Oh, the front. There you go. That’s cool. There you go. Justin Bieber from Toronto. So then even like this pin, we’re actually going to this year have uh sets of pins that are exclusive to the tank. So you’re only going to be able to buy them here. And then I think we’re even thinking about how we can maybe encourage people to do pin trading. We know we know we know that happens on their own, but how can we potentially help create a platform to people to do that? So I feel like hockey jerk is booking a flight. Uh here’s another one that again for me has a throwback vibe. Absolutely. Very kind of a a starter ’90s vibe to it. Absolutely. And the one thing that we didn’t mention is I mean like here is basically What are these by the way? Your Crocs. Your shoe charms. Your shoe charms for your Crocs. You know what that is? Sure. I am wearing Vans. This is actually this is the giveaway for our next gen night. So that’s the night when we’re going to have kids basically take over the game. And so obviously kids and crocs are synonymous having an 11 and 9year-old that you children. But I look at this though and it’s kind of original and then you know current but then evolve and like a little bit of everything. Yeah. How do how do we how do we connect kind of all these eras all the fans together? So the that hoodie has the screaming shark on it versus the original. So there’s so many. And this looks like is what is this? A giveaway as well. So this is the Los Tibonese uh sherzy. So this is one of our artist series. So our artist designed this locally. Again, Los L Tones has generally had more of an aggressive vibe. So we picked an artist that maybe is going to like attract a different crowd. and I thought I think has a different perspective on what what Los Tibs and the Sharks mean to them. And I think it’s it’s it’s a beautiful design and it’s just something something new and fresh that you haven’t seen before. And then obviously uh annual hockey fights cancer. Hockey fights cancer uh November 2nd. So all fans in attendance will get that. That should be a great way to you know we usually have our our moment in the game where everyone kind of honors those that are either fighting or have fought. And so having seen everyone in in in purple for that moment with the scarves I think will be will be very cool. Well, and I remember we spoke maybe 2 years ago. Yeah. And one of the things that we did talk about was or I should say one of the things you told me was you might be seeing the Chomp font coming back more and more and more. And I’m eyeballing that hat over there kind of hard. That’s drifted over. Yeah. Yeah. Again, this is so Home Shopping Network. I love it. So this this guy this guy you’re talking about. Yeah. Yeah. So So again, I I I mean it’s the 35th anniversary, but at the same time like we just hear the feedback more and more like how how can we bring more merch back that that has kind of the early roots. And so I mean we’re we’re trying we’re trying to to kind of give people what they want and try to have a mix of of new, old, and variety. And and you can’t you can’t beat that hat. I was going to say I feel like I saw this in a Clerk’s movie. Very close. I think it was teal, but yes, I think that was the same type design. Maybe. Maybe. All All I’m going to say is you can have this one. You know how much I love teal. That’s That’s Yeah. I know, right? It was great. So, do that. No, I’m more than fine with that. Uh, do you want to go over a couple last activation items before we move on? Yeah. So, I I mean I I think at this point people know about the sleepover bobblehead. Um, so everyone in attendance will get uh Will and Mac. Um, and then, uh, we’re we have the tooli add-on, which we’re, uh, which with a $35 donation to the Sharks Foundation, you can add the, uh, the the third here. So, what this does is it makes it go from a queen to a California king, but I mean, it’s one of those things where it’s a nice add-on and it’s helping the community as well. Yeah. I I think that’s we we were trying to work with the with the foundation. How can we work together to kind of integrate these things so it’s we’re not kind of disjointed with what we’re selling? And so I think this is an example I think not shown here. So this is this is the military appreciation night tag that will be sold uh will be the giveaway for everyone. But then on the uh youth hockey appreciation will actually have the backpack tags with the players. And so again, having the foundation sell the sets will allow us to integrate both so they can raise money, do everything all the great things they do. And then we’re working both to promote the night and the activation and the theme and everything that goes around with that. So um what’s not associated with the foundation is the WWE theme night. You will donate and like it f phone holder chair. Uh which again uh this this is uh you know this is in in contrast to a lot of things we’ve done but I think it’s kind of a fun way to to bring the two together. It was I mean we were we were playing around with it right before we started hitting record and it was just it’s it’s so much fun even even who’s the girl that did our draft pick this year? Oh Bailey Bailey. Yeah Bailey. So yeah that that’s got to be uh yeah and then we have in the arena here we have a WWE event on the 17th. So again, trying to work together closely with these get nice and tied in. Make make the entertainment value more more uh more in the arena. So for promotions, it seems like you guys are done you’re doing a whole heck of a lot more. Uh same with merch, but but promotions wise and giveaway items and theme nights, it seems like it’s just exploded with all kinds of options. Yes. So I I think So what was your question? Thank you. Um, no, I I I but more than more than than it’s been before, at least in my eyes, we we continue to be at this important point of the organization where we now have a team on the ice that’s that’s attracting a new set of fans. How can we accelerate that by giving a wide variety of ways to connect? whether it’s if you’re a WWE fan, you know, if you love merchandise, if if you you know, if this is from Native American Heritage Night, like how can we connect with people to bring them in? Cuz once they’re in and they see this team on the ice, like they’re they’re going to be they’re going to be hooked. And I think also we’ve we’ve focused over the last couple years especially on putting a lot of resources onto Saturdays, but we know now like we we need to we need to expand that breath to Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and even, you know, we’re doing the era nights on Mondays and Tuesdays. We’re doing some of the alumni nights on on like a Wednesday. So, how can we bring back where every night you come to the tank is going to be exciting because it’s going to be entertaining. There’s going to be activated and you’re going to have this great team as opposed to kind of having it be all about the weekends. Does an earlier start factor into any of that now that everything’s going a half an hour earlier? Uh I I I think to some degree I I think the you know the 700 p.m. starts was somewhat based on feedback we got especially from members. I think you know where where’s where’s my where’s my shoe charm over here. I I think I think we’re we’re again making a conceited concerted effort to get families involved. you know, we have a whole generation of kids who they may grow up with Mlin Celerini being their sports idol. So, how can we get get kids and families back in the mix, whether that’s just being a fan or whether in the arena. So, I think there’s a lot of factors at play, but I think the the the general again theme is like how can we make this fresh and exciting for both the fans who’ve been here since the cow piles to someone who’s just discovering the Sharks. And I we we probably haven’t perfectly thread that needle, but I feel like we’re doing a better job and just even having more for more options for more people. I think that allows us to do that. All right. Well, they’re making out. Um so, well, uh so after this, is there anything else happening around the arena that fans should be like on the lookout for when they get here on on the 9th? Yeah. So, uh, so on on the 9th, even before you get into the arena, uh, we have the the pregame festival, which we are actually expanding throughout the park, so where people have usually just come and it’s on, uh, it’s on, uh, Barack Obama, a much bigger footprint. And I think this really plays into our relationship with the city and really the future there. So, if you haven’t seen Sharks Way, the sign has actually been released. We’re going to we’re going to do a bigger ceremony there for Sharks Way, the entire park being activated, which you’ll see more of. And then we’re going to have the teal carpet um with with I think a cool interesting twist that really incorporates San Jose culture into the Sharks. Um so I I’ll keep that to be a surprise. But but before you before you I have a I think I know what it is, but I’m going to keep it to myself. If you take a guess, I’ll tell you. Low riders. Yes. Oh, he said San Jose culture. I’m like, come on. So, so yeah. So, so before before anyone even steps into the arena, it’s going to feel like a different a different kind of vibe. I think in in the arena, I I think we’re again doubling down and making an investment in game entertainment, game presentation. So, things like uh player intros, like there’s going to be some twist there. Like music, there’s going to be some twist there. There’s gonna be some probably surprises that I’m not going to talk about here, but maybe you’ll learn about very soon. Guess them again. That’s where we end that game. Um, so, you know, guest guest MC’s, more guest DJs. Again, every time you come, we want to have the feeling of, hey, I’m seeing something new and refreshed, whether I come to every game or this is my first game. Um, so I think game presentation, you’ll see a lot of changes. Um, I think when it comes to food and beverage, we always try to roll out some new options every year. Uh, I think merchandise even you see these new uh these new uh I guess grab and go ex exhibition areas that are are more friendly to both fans and to the merchandise. Uh, again, maybe that’s in anticipation of bigger changes to the arena to come soon. Um, but but I think in in every aspect you’ll probably see something new this year and that’s that’s an intentional effort. So, uh I mean jump on in cuz you had the list. I mean we have all there’s so much to talk about cuz obviously the new merch, the new activations uh teal gravy. So yeah, teal gravy the sharks gravy boat. So, this this actually comes with uh when you buy a flex plan um of three or more games. Um which we have this this is available right now, but we actually have some other things up our sleeve as we go through the year that flex plans will also come with which should be fan favorites as well. Um so, we’ll we’ll be able to meet again and talk about more stuff. All right, check. All right. Anything left? I I think I think we’ve covered it all unless you want to share something. You haven’t yet? Uh, no. I I think I think Darn it. Can Can we get the It used to be right over there. Can we get the bear bottle beer kiosk back over there? Oh jeez. There was a group of us that really liked that. Oh my gosh. Well, Doug, thank you very much. Appreciate each and every thing that you shared with us. I’ll make sure Jules doesn’t steal the hoodie out of AJ’s hand. You guys, you can’t you can’t leave without your gift. So these these these these Sharks 365 members get these were pieces of the net from actually Mac and Will’s first goal. So you guys can take each each take one of those. Appreciate it. And then Tealtown USA is your own official uh official jersey here. Thank you very much, Doug. As always, can rotate that amongst the amongst the sets you have on the show. Appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. Thank you. All the best. Can’t wait to see this place rocking and and me rocking more teal than I think I can imagine. As always, I appreciate your guys’ passion and your energy and challenging me to to continue to do cool stuff like this. So, yes, I appreciate it. All right. Thanks, Doug. Thanks, everyone. [Music]

Sharks Chief Marketing Officer (and friend of the show) Doug Bentz invites Erik Kuhre, AJ Strong and Jules to discuss the new giveaways, refreshed experiences inside, an enhanced Opening Night, new merch, and the popular 35th Anniversary Heritage 2.0 jersey. (There are some audio hiccups, but thank you Tyler for fixing up as much as possible!)

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