• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 6, 2009

NHL executive Amie Becton Ray reiterated Wednesday that the league has had success with a "Ticket on Sale" email campaign, which targets "displaced fans" -- a group defined as, say, New York Rangers fans living in Tampa Bay, Fla.

The emails advise those fans when their "out-of-market" team is coming to where they live. Behind the campaign are figures showing that 60% of NHL fans live outside their preferred team's home base.

Becton Ray, who is senior manager, direct marketing, spoke on a panel at the MediaPost Email Insider Summit on Wednesday. She says the "Ticket on Sale" system took enormous work to set up with 30 pieces of creative -- one for each team -- and 930 versions. But the upfront investment was worth it because the league can now use it time and again.

"It has been one of our most successful campaigns," she told Online Media Daily this week.

As for email marketing optimization, she says the NHL is focusing on sending out more targeted and customized emails. "That helps us optimize ... You have to be relevant," she says.

The NHL has two people on its email team and an email list of some 1 million fans. In addition to "Ticket on Sale" messages, it sends out 62 versions of weekly emails -- along with ones promoting the likes of NHL online programming under the e-commerce umbrella and tune-in messages for telecasts such as the Winter Classic on NBC.

Becton Ray says her team asks other business units within the NHL looking to do an email mailing to give it approved content a week in advance, but it often comes in the day of distribution.

She says her group frequently acts as an in-house consultant on email marketing issues such as on effective subject lines and messaging strategy. "We often act like an agency for other departments," she says. Her group also does testing and provides advice based on results.