Bristol Bay Wild Market

Brand Site bristolbaywildmarket.com/

The Challenge

As Seattle established its first hockey team, the Seattle Kraken, S360 facilitated a partnership between a longtime client—Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC)—and its partners, and the team. The partnership created a perfect opportunity to promote the Bristol Bay region and the salmon industry and gave the Seattle Kraken an opportunity to build its fan base in a state where hockey is a beloved sport. Once the partnership was sealed, a marketplace needed to be created from scratch, and an integrated advertising campaign developed to launch the market and promote Alaska’s wild seafood.

Broadcast spot launching the program.

Why S360

The broad depth and breadth of skills at S360 was critical in seeing this project to completion. An integrated effect between paid, owned, and earned efforts was highly coordinated to deliver a fully branded in-arena marketplace, announcement events, public relations, and an integrated paid media plan to support all efforts across Washington and Alaska. 

Branding, Naming & Environmental Design 

The Approach

The Bristol Bay Wild Market was created from scratch, from naming, to environmental design, to a visual identity. With the marketplace having three partners as well as Climate Pledge Arena and The Seattle Kraken all as stakeholders in the brand development, we needed to be as efficient and disciplined as possible.  

Once the brand was developed, the integrated launch campaign targeting Alaska and Pacific Northwest residents was executed. A full site was built to support all efforts, as well as in-arena content to play on 200 TV screens throughout the arena. Additionally, a seven-minute video about the Bristol Bay region was developed in time for the season opener.  S360 also ran media relations, community engagement, and all media for the announcement of the Market as well. Three of the four Seattle TV stations covered it along with the Seattle Times.

Campaign Elements: Print, Digital and Site

Why it Worked

Effective partnerships are built on trust and mutuality. S360 helped BBNC and the Seattle Kraken develop trust and explore shared interests. This allowed us to not only spearhead communications but also develop an entirely new brand as a result of the partnership. The Seattle Kraken Marketing team was so impressed with S360’s work, they ran the announcement spot during ALL preseason games. This additional broadcast placement, especially in Seattle, was immeasurable in gratis value.

The Seattle Kraken marketing team was so impressed with S360’s work, they ran the announcement spot at gratis during ALL preseason games.

Scope and Services

  • Advertising
  • Brand strategy
  • Communications
  • Design and content development
  • Digital marketing
  • Paid media strategy and management
  • Public affairs and government relations
  • Video and audio production
  • Web development and engineering

Communications & PUBLIC RELATIONS


Bringing the NHL to Alaska is no small feat. 

Strategies 360 began engaging with NHL Seattle in January of 2020 on behalf of Bristol Bay Native Corporation as the organization began looking for expanding brand opportunities throughout the region.

Initial discussions with NHL Seattle identified a potential partnership/sponsorship for BBNC that would place it among a very limited number of companies considered for this kind of relationship.  S360 led the information gathering process to expand on the potential partnership and benefits to both BBNC and the team. Despite the onset of the global pandemic, S360 kept in constant contact with NHL Seattle and developed a strong relationship with the organization as it moved forward with new hires, a new arena and team approval.

With the announcement of a team name and mascot, the Seattle Kraken, the potential partnership moved forward at an increased pace as S360 negotiated a number of elements to include within the deal: one of 13 marketplaces within the arena where Alaska-inspired food would be sold, a commitment from the Kraken for an annual youth camp in Alaska involving players and coaches from the team, branding opportunities throughout the rink, arena and training facility and access to tickets for games and concerts.

S360 took a strong position in advocating for the terms that would most benefit BBNC through the 5 year commitment and ended with a deal celebrated by both sides.

After the contract was signed, S360 continued taking the lead in developing a strategy to announce the partnership to Alaska and the region. Without the deep bench of talent, and diverse offerings of S360 this would not have been possible. The Brand team developed a name and brand identity for the BBNC marketplace within the arena. The communications team continued negotiating entrees and placement within the arena, especially on behalf of not only BBNC but their seafood partners. The advertising team developed an integrated media strategy and content to support the partnership announcement. And, of course the Alaska office and communications team coordinated a press event in Anchorage, literally on the ice surrounded by youth hockey players.