WWE Goes Looking For New Audience In The Tech World

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Mar 04, 2015

With WrestleMania around the corner World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, Financial) has tried something new to lure in a new segment of viewers for its company. WWE’s iconic names of two generations are visiting the new sectors where the nerdish and the brainiest of them all reside, Hulk Hogan and John Cena recently toured the campuses of Facebook (FB, Financial), Twitter Inc. (TWTR, Financial) and Google Inc. (GOOG, Financial). This time a technical tour was planned by WWE, and it was a promotion strategy to catch some audience in the technical world.

Cena said it was an amazing learning experience. He learned a lot after talking to the employees in various campuses on how to best use the technology in linking the WWE with the digital and social world.

The enormity of WWE in social world

WWE is a big name in the social world; going by the stats WWE has more than 450 million followers in the entire social media around the world. The WWE app has more than 16 million downloads, and the network recently crossed a million subscribers mark. The culture of the companies certainly impressed the superstars of WWE. They said it doesn’t feel like you are working in an office, which takes the pressure off.

Hulk Hogan, 61 years old, wearing his trademark white handlebar mustache and the red-colored T-shirt saying HULK’S RULES, was flanked by small army of communication folks with cameras. Hulk said that it was an enriching experience for him. Learning from the new generation and the enthusiasm that is in the fans is always overwhelming. Cena and Hogan performed certain activities; they participated in the Q&As of Twitter. In the corner of the room standing quiet was Jimmy Hart, the wrestling manager wearing his trademark black mustache; looking cool, he didn’t say much.

The strategy to market involvement

The WWE chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon revealed that the fans are part of the show and our promotion strategy. She said that WWE’s promotion strategy depends largely on word-of-mouth promotion and the seeding is done with the help of social media. She said hashtags and social media are two of the most important tools that she has for making the WWE fans connected and updated with the entertainment company. Engaging the fans in the show is the USP, as like every other show WWE exists because of its fans; without them there is no show.

The secret sauce of WWE according to her is the fans, and updating the show and its character as the class of audience has changed is the biggest reason for the success and survival of the show. She said that, in the past decade, the world has gone digital, and the living is on two dimensions; to be successful the presence of the show on both the dimensions equally is necessary.

WrestleMania is the strongest brand under the umbrella of WWE

The brand of WretleMania is standing tall after 30 years in the business. The 31st edition of WrestleMania will take place in the heart of Silicon Valley in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Hogan said that he is really looking forward to this year’s WrestleMania because he gets to walk around with his chest sticking out a mile wide. Hogan was the icon who participated in the very first WrestleMania back in 1985 in the Madison Square Garden. After the interview he tucked in to the plate of salad on the long conference table.

The Q&A session with Twitter employees was interesting; the Twitter employees were writing their questions on a big screen appearing to everyone in the room, and Hogan and Cena were rewriting the answers.

WrestleMania is the big bomb on which WWE counts, and it works every time, has proven it to be their most successful annual event for the company. WrestleMania is the sure sign of Company’s future every Successful Wrestlemania quotes a decade of safety for the company.