This morning it’s official: The NHL’s St. Louis Blues have announced a partnership with St. Louis’ hottest digital startup, Lockerdome. The “St. Louis Blues Lockerdome Network” officially marks the launch of the first official Network by a professional sports team on the Lockerdome network. To celebrate the launch of the joint venture, the St. Louis Blues are launching a promotion on March 25th, which includes two free tickets to the April 19 game vs. Dallas, the chance to fist bump players as they hit the ice, an autographed T.J. Oshie jersey and an autographed puck from a favorite player. “We are pleased to choose the St. Louis Blues as the first major professional sports team Network on LockerDome,” said Gabe Lozano, co-founder and CEO, LockerDome. “Adding professional teams and leagues is a natural progression for LockerDome as we continue to connect sports fans with the athletes, brands, media personalities and now the teams they love through our rapidly growing sports platform. We will be approving dozens of similar partnerships with professional organizations in the coming months.” “We are excited to become the first pro sports team to partner with LockerDome,” said Blues’ COO, Bruce Affleck. “LockerDome is a progressive social platform that will allow our organization to become more accessible as a whole and strengthen the bond between our players and the best fans in hockey.” Lozano was, as ever, cagey about Lockerdome’s total traffic. Your intrepid wordsmith pressed him on the issue, and asked for hard answers. “How many total pageviews do we have?” said Lozano as he chuckled. “A whole lot more than we did the last time you asked me, Mr. Domain.” (Since he used ‘Mr. Domain’ instead of ‘Get out of my office’ it can be hoped we are getting closer to an answer on the question rattling around everyone’s mind. Or at least mine) Lockerdome is already swiftly becoming the darling of advertising agencies eager to reach Lockerdome’s audience of sports fans. “We keep executing at a high level,” said Lozano, “and our growing user base and the industry are taking notice. Working the St. Louis Blues is especially gratifying for us as its two great St. Louis brands working together.” What sets LockerDome apart for its publishers is its ability to reach a more engaged, targeted sports audience and increase their overall social media footprint. Some highlights include: • 50% average growth across Facebook and Twitter for its properties in their first 4.5 months. • Cross-promotional flexibility among its networks allowing them to grow their existing audiences with each other, a service Facebook and Twitter do not currently offer. • Extremely high traffic and success rates for its contests, which yield an average landing page conversion of 23% (industry standard is 2% – 3%).
