Let’s take a look at the hub of the WWE universe: WWE.com. This Sunday is the “Night of Champions” Pay-Per-View event and visitors to the site can’t miss that fact with the site’s huge “push marketing” technique -- the banner ad across the top of the homepage.
According to a 2012 article from Fast Company, "The new dot-com should be a platform for the brand to promote its content and activities to consumers, while encouraging and enabling its casual consumer to become an influential member of the brand’s community," and WWE's website does that very well.
The banner ad takes visitors to a page that has loads of fresh content previewing “Night of Champions.” That content on that page draws people into learning more about the event with several “pull marketing” devices – the varied content. Several videos and articles bring those not in the loop up-to-date on the storylines behind all the upcoming matches. Fans can even re-live past Night of Champions events through photo galleries and videos.
All of these efforts, of course, are designed to get fans to order “Night of Champions” on Pay-Per-View. And the “Night of Champions” “push” techniques continue offsite on WWE’s social channels. Just watch WWE videos on YouTube and a a banner ad will pop up on the bottom of the video that says “WWE Night of Champions This Sunday.”
That ad takes goes to a “Night of Champions” preview video on YouTube, which has a pop-up in the upper right corner of the video that says, “Click for Night of Champions info!”
Even this video voice over says at the end “Go to WWE.com to learn more.” That banner ad goes to a page on WWE.com that runs down the numerous ways viewers can order and watch “Night of Champions.”
However, for those who can’t afford to shell out $44.99 to watch online, $54.95 to watch on TV, or get to a “blast site”to watch the show in their area, they can still feel like they’re a part of the action with all the fresh content on WWE.com. After “Night of Champions” is over, the page will live on as a “recap” page so fans can experience the action all over again.
Aside from the “Night of Champions” content, WWE has standard “push” and “pull” methods in place to draw fans deeper into the WWE Universe. Visiting WWE.com on a mobile device (shown to the right) provides generally the same experience as on a desktop, except users are “pushed” to download the WWE app since they’re already on a phone. Social plugin buttons are present on the site, though they are at the bottom of the page with the table of contents. Since their social channels are teased so much on air, perhaps WWE web staff did not deem this feature important enough to be at the top (I know I did not go and “Like” their Facebook page because of coming across it on their site).
What is at the top of the site, however, is a button that says “Join” and in comes another “pull” technique: email blasts (shown below). Sign up for the blasts, and WWE.com gives users the option to get access to “insider info, advanced ticket notices and exclusive shop deals.”
For users that don’t want to sign up for email blasts, another “pull” option is ready and waiting – registering with WWE.com by using a Facebook, Twitter, Google or Yahoo account. By registering, users can “personalize your experience” get “exclusive insider information, advance notice of upcoming WWE events, chances to win tickets, meet your favorite superstars and more.”
WWE’s branding across its channels is pretty consistent, so my main integrated marketing communications recommendation would be about content aka “pull” placement. WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim “JR” Ross announced his retirement onWednesday. I know this news is already several days old, and WWE is probably trying to keep its content fresh to keep users engaged. But this story was a big enough deal for WWE to send out a breaking news text, so it should still be visible somewhere on the homepage, even if it is at the very bottom. A Hall of Famer deserves no less.
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