Warrior Hockey

There are many different brands to choose from in the sport of hockey. The most popular ones consist of Bauer, Easton, Reebok, CCM, Vapor and Warrior. The one that has always stood out to me was Warrior. Warrior is mostly known for their lacrosse gear and they are top of the line in that regard, but Warrior is growing has become one of the go to brands for hockey equipment/apparel. In the last 5 years their product has grown exponentially in the hockey world and has begun being used by NHLers. Ten years ago you never saw a NHL player using Warrior gear, but it is growing now. The million dollar question is how did they start becoming appealing to people and what is their brand?

I consider myself a very big hockey fan so when I think of Warrior I think of certain NHLers that I know that use the brand. There is not many people that are too deep into hockey and the NHL that can think that way though, so Warrior has taken on a different branding scheme. They had to do something to stand out from the rest of the older hockey brands. Warrior introduced hockey relatively recent so they had to come up with a brand that would be appealing, with their main piece of equipment being sticks and gloves. They took on the idea of adding more designs and colors to their equipment, most notably their hockey sticks themselves. Anybody who is familiar with hockey equipment will tell you Warrior is known for their peculiar designs and high frequency of colors on their equipment. They really have taken on the identity of standing out from the rest of the hockey world with their designs. It helps that they have very high quality equipment also, but the fact is that their equipment appeals to many because of its appearance. This stick is just one example of many of their florescent, new style sticks. Hockey is an old school sport and if you compare all other brands equipment they do indeed look old school compared to Warrior's new look attitude.

On top of taking on the ability to stand out through colors/designs, they have taken on the image of certain NHL players. When I think of Warrior, the player that comes to my mind is Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk is one of the best pure goal scorers, if not the best, of my generation. You can bet that Warrior sought out to find players like him that everybody knows can shoot the puck with ease and make it look simple. Kovalchuk is a Russian and I think the whole European facet of his game fits the identity of Warrior to a tee. Though Kovalchuk recently retired from the NHL at the age of 29 to return home and play in Russia, I still associate the brand with him today. Warrior is very flamboyant from what you can tell, and that describes the game Kovalchuk and most Europeans play. When I was first buying Warrior sticks I was thinking to myself how much I want to shoot the puck like Kovalchuk. I mean who wouldn't want to shoot the puck like this.  

The branding pyramid is crucial to keep in mind here. The 5 categories are presence, relevance, performance, advantage and bonding which are apparent in this branding scheme. I think a lot of it comes down to having star NHL players using their product like Ilya Kovalchuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Patrick Marleau, former Tampa Bay Lightning captain Martin St. Louis, and Zdeno Chara. The one thing all these players have in common also is that they all have been captain of one team in the NHL at one point. That is leadership, and shows how Warrior wants to be perceived. Those right there are formidable presences with the company and their performance as stars in the best league in the world shows how good of a brand Warrior is. Those are all future Hall of Fame players and having that type of player use your brand shows how much of advantage you can have if you use Warrior. Bonding with the customers can be shown through their color and design schemes, it can appeal to the customer and make them feel like the brand is making the equipment for you personally.

I started using Warrior because I always liked the way their sticks looked and because of players who endorsed the company like Kovalchuk. The brand hasn't disappointed when I play and use their equipment. If you ask anybody who plays hockey and ask them what comes to mind when they think of Warrior in one word, I bet most would say appearance. That is how you build a brand and stand out from the rest of your competition.