The National Hockey League?s Vancouver Canucks claim that its commerce-enabled mobile application for Apple?s iPhone and iPod touch has become the most popular NHL team application in the App Store.

With the NHL Playoffs kicking into high gear, the Canucks application showcases how sports teams can market themselves successfully through mobile much like many other businesses. In addition, it is contributing to the Canucks? bottom line, as fans can buy tickets via the application.

 ?What we are really aiming to do is harness the power of mobile and smartphone technology to connect our fans directly to the team and each other,? said Jon Festinger, executive vice president of business and general counsel at Canucks Sports and Entertainment, Vancouver, BC.

?[We want to] give Canucks fans the opportunity to celebrate, share, explore and immerse themselves in the Canucks universe anytime, anywhere,? he said.

?We didn't approach this with the intent of reaching a specific demographic, but rather providing our fan base with a way to connect to the team in the mobile space.?

The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team that is a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the NHL. The club plays their home games at General Motors Place.

The Canucks are currently locked in a battle with the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

The problem
As of late, NHL applications have consistently been positioned under par in comparison to other mobile Web applications.

In evaluating this trend, one of the main issues includes the inability of applications to function well offline, in addition to long load times that have led to missed content and lack of up-to-date information.

In terms of overall design, past applications were both unappealing and took no consideration into account of what the end users?the fans?wanted.

In lieu of these problems, Canuck fans specifically began creating their own applications, which in turn saw the club losing any control of images, news and video that began coming from a multitude of second-hand sources.

Most importantly, mobile Web sites were being used as a pass-off to the applications and in turn led to a tarnished user experience.

The solution
Atimi Software approached the current issue facing NHL applications with a goal of wanting to create a polished iPhone application that supplied fans with exactly what they wanted, which they made evident through their own quests in developing applications.

This allowed the Canucks franchise to extend their brand, letting other NHL teams see that they too could have a full-functioning application that honors the end user.

The application developed for the iPhone collected feeds from the Canucks team themselves, which permitted the NHL to keep all information current and up-to-date, helping them regain control.

All relevant content that the fans were seeking, including behind-the-scenes images, video, news and Twitter feeds, was integrated.

The application features scores, stats and standings, as well as the team?s schedule and links letting fans buy tickets via the application.

The results
According to Atimi, the success of the Canucks application on the iPhone has been both surprising and impressive.

The initial results of the Canucks application seemingly thrived due to the quick and unexpected execution surrounding the release of the application.

Here is a screen grab of the application:

The application reached 33,000 downloads in the first month and has surged past the 60,000 mark.

The Canucks application placed No. 1 in the Free Sports Category within one month of the release, and placed in the Top 100 of the Free Apps category.

?The success of the app?it's continually in the top five in the sports category on iTunes Canada?has largely been due to word-of-mouth promotions and the buzz it created in the social media space,? Mr. Festinger said.

?We have relied heavily on our digital platforms to promote the app?Canucks.com, Twitter and Facebook,? he said. ?We also invested in some traditional channels such as print, in-arena and TV promotions, but the emphasis was always on social media.

?With further releases of the app, we will explore other marketing channels, such as [advertising] through other apps.?

Puckered up
The edition of this application for Research In Motion?s BlackBerry was recently released as well with the same level of attention that was seen with the iPhone release, according to the Canucks.

?We are working on optimizing for the iPad, as well as investigating new mobile platforms as they gain momentum in Canada,? Mr. Festinger said.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Canucks have gradually phased out SMS.

?In years past, we have had a SMS text club through which we ran various promotions,? Mr. Festinger said. ?However, we felt that with the increased adoption of smartphones and the unique opportunities an app provides that it was best to focus our mobile efforts in that direction.

?We are looking into possibly re-introducing SMS initiatives in-arena in the future,? he said.