Inside Sports Marketing: Golden Knights Forge Supermarket Sponsor Deal With Smith’s To Sell VGK Player Patches
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s hard to believe that with a local sponsor portfolio nearing 150 strong the Vegas Golden Knights didn’t have a local supermarket as a partner.
That changed Wednesday morning when VGK Chief Marketing Officer Brian Killingsworth and Chance the mascot visited a Smith’s supermarket off Warm Springs Road in the southwest valley to hail Smith’s as the official VGK food store.
Smith’s had a big cake in the shape of an ice rink with Chance sitting in the middle plus lots of cupcakes to dole out as several dozen Golden Knights fans dressed in jerseys and T-shirts gobbled up the first of five patches that are being sold for 10 bucks each. Naturally, the patch for Max Pacioretty, known as “Patches,” was the first to be sold.
The store will roll out four more player patches every two weeks, including ones for popular goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and bone-crunching forward Ryan Reaves.
Salt Lake City-based Smith’s has about 40 stores in the Las Vegas market and has stores in seven western states. Smith’s was founded in 1911 in Brigham City, Utah and is a subsidiary of Kroger.
LVSportsBiz.com spoke with Matt Morgan, the Smith’s marketing man, and Killingsworth to get the lowdown on the sponsorship.
Here’s Killingsworth:
Look for LVSportsBiz.com at the Top of the Escalator for tonight’s 7 p.m. preseason game between the Knights and the Colorado Avalanche.
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