During the Edmonton Oilers’ thrilling Stanley Cup Playoffs campaign, the team transformed fan watch parties into powerful engagement and acquisition moments using Fanmaker’s Check-In Kiosk system. With thousands of fans attending each Fan Park event, the Oilers became the first NHL team to gate watch party access using loyalty program registration—creating a massive opportunity for growth and first-party data collection.
And the results? Nothing short of incredible. Over the course of the playoffs, more than 60,000 new fans joined LOILTY Rewards, pushing the total membership above 145,000. Among those new members, over 20,000 were entirely new leads—never before in the team’s database.
“This feature has been a game changer for these events,” said Eugene Leontyev, Manager, Loyalty Marketing for the Edmonton Oilers. “We are the first NHL club to do anything like this for watch parties and utilizing a check-in kiosk with required loyalty registration for access. April was a record-breaking month in terms of acquisition. We had more than 22,000 members join the program, which was more than May and June combined last year. We get 1,000+ users to register with each event, including 4,500+ for Game 3 in Round 2 versus Vegas. So it has been phenomenal. More than 20,000 unique users have been to these events and more than 10,000 were not previously within our database. So it’s a huge win here!”
In total, 61,839 check-ins were recorded by over 39,000 unique users at Fan Park events. These numbers speak volumes about the power of live, in-person engagement—and how the right tools can help teams turn fan passion into long-term loyalty.
To support this effort for the Oilers, Fanmaker even rolled out a new feature called Digital Tickets, which allows fans to redeem loyalty prizes that grant entry to special events via the Check-In Kiosk. This functionality gives teams more control over event access and opens the door for even more creative activations.
For teams interested in incorporating Digital Tickets into their loyalty strategy, setup is simple using Fanmaker's Prize Store and Check-In Kiosk system. Reach out to your Activation coordinator for instructions.
🏒 The Oilers’ success is a perfect example of how to convert playoff excitement into real, measurable growth—and how Fanmaker tools are built to help teams capture every moment.