NHL teams with MassMutual, Great Clips to honor hockey hair and moms

Dive Brief:

Great Clips and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company have partnered with the National Hockey League (NHL) for multiyear marketing partnerships, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. Both brands were named the official company of the NHL in their respective categories — MassMutual in life insurance and retirement planning and Great Clips as the official hair salon.
Great Clips is promoting the partnership with the second annual run of the LegendHairy Greats campaign. The site features the hairstyles of star NHL players over the years through through photo series and video interviews where they share the origin stories of their unique 'dos, while fans can vote online and through social media for their favorite hockey hair. San Jose Sharks player Brent Burns and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith are among those featured.
MassMutual separately launched a Mother's Day-themed effort to highlight the fact that the company provides retirement plans for league employees. The "NHL Most Valuable Hockey Mom" campaign centers on the sacrifices that hockey moms make to support their athlete kids. Fans are encouraged to nominate and tell the stories of a hockey mom in their life through the NHL website for a chance to win a trip to the 2019 NHL Awards in Las Vegas.

Dive Insight:

Right around the start of playoff season, the NHL is building on its work with official partners MassMutual and Great Clips through campaigns that look to get fans engaged with the brands' content and also share their own on social media.

The Hockey Hair push, for example, lets fans vote on their favorite style and view live results. Consumers are then encouraged to post their vote on social channels with the hashtag #HockeyHair.

MassMutual's push also seeks to genearete user-generated content by encouraging followers to share stories of their moms' dedication to the sport. The sweepstakes element has continued to be a pillar of other brands' sports marketing as well. Busch beer recently celebrated the start of Major League Baseball's regular season with a social media contest to sponsor 10 recreational-league softball teams as part of a "Busch League" initiative.

In MassMutual's case, stories of the featured moms will be used in the company's marketing throughout 2019. The brand will also let the winning contestants attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and other community engagement events throughout the year.