Company History
Passau Hockey is a custom ice hockey equipment manufacturer focusing on goalie equipment. It was founded by Alain Beaudry, who had collaborated with several companies before founding Passau, working with distributors such as Bayard, Bourdon, and Ferland.
While the company settled in a small factory outside of Montreal, Quebec, the name Passau came from Germany. Prior to the renaissance, Passau, Germany was know as an iconic swords and weapons manufacturer. Weapons produced there had the logo of a running wolf upon them, which superstitious warriors thought gave them an almost inherent invincibility. This idea was has transcended into Passau Hockey's equipment, not necessarily giving goaltenders invincibility per se, but that Passau strives to provide an exceptionally high quality product (via passauhockey.com).
 |
| View of running wolf logo on their "Axiom" catch glove and blocker |
Social Media Presence
Social Media has played a huge factor in Passau Hockey's growth as a company. They have all of the most popular social media to promote their products: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The company does not operate a YouTube channel, but several of the companies representatives, mainly Josh Trimberger, occasionally post videos to YouTube to explain/show certain features to customers. These are not usually typical high-production quality videos you would see from large companies, but still are helpful to customers. Here's an example of Josh describing some of the options for their custom sticks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utwIKHIfOzI
Posts across their three main platforms of social media tend to be somewhat similar to each other, but catered to the particular platform they are using. Facebook/Instagram posts are somewhat similar with a picture and fairly lengthy description/explanation, while Twitter posts are shorter to abide by the 140-character limit.
The company also gets many customers from goalie equipment forums such as The Goalie Crease Network, and GSBB (Goalie Store Bulletin Board) The examples in those links are to two separate announcements of new products shared by company reps on those respective platforms. Aside from forums, the company also gets a substantial amount of customers from the group GGSU, an acronym I will not bother breaking down, but basically translates to "promiscuous spenders of money on goalie gear."
The group has a website/blog of its own, but the bulk of the groups presence is a closed Facebook group of over 16,000 goalies. Links will not be very useful here, as only members can view the content of the group, however here are some screenshots of sample posts mentioning Passau Hockey in the group by satisfied customers.
 |
| (Dax was a former representative for Passau Hockey) |
Passau also has a smaller Facebook group similar to GGSU, however solely for posts about its company while GGSU is open to all goalie equipment. This is also a closed group, so links won't work but here is a sample post:
 |
| Tim McCarthy is another rep for Passau, and the rep I worked with when ordering my own set of Passau equipment. Here is is showing a goalie using Passau equipment at an NHL camp. |
Sales Strategies
Being the small company that it is, Passau does not use high-level marketing campaigns to sell their products. Passau instead focuses on creating a sort of "family" with its customers, sometimes even marketing this literally. |
| (via Twitter) |
 |
| (via Facebook) |
Mentions around the Web
The company often receives praise on Twitter (among other platforms, such as the aforementioned GGSU), often re-tweeting some of the things people say about them. Here are a few examples:
 |
| (via Twitter - @werez12) @Srombone1 is the Twitter of Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Loungo. He was injured from a shot that obviously didn't agree with his Chest/Arm protector, so this was a joke saying he wouldn't have gotten hurt if wearing the one made by Passau, often called a "mobile tank" |
 |
| (via Twitter - @tendysetups1) Tendysetups is basically a Twitter (and Instagram) for goalies to show off their newest gear. Here it featured a Passau set. |
InGoal Magazine
Passau also appears in noteworthy goaltending online magazine InGoal Magazine. Passau's founder Alain Beaudry was featured on the site in a two-part interview:
 |
| (via ingoalmag.com) |
YouTube
Passau is also mentioned on YouTube, most often in terms of gear reviews. Here we see Tomy Ames from GoalieCreaseNet reviewing the new 2nd generation chest protector:
We also see a full Passau set featured on Tomy's personal channel, "zynesthete," where he does more on-ice videos of various beer-league level hockey games filmed on a GoPro mounted to the glass behind him:
(via YouTube - zynesthete)
Conclusion
Overall, Passau Hockey is a company that thrives on its social media presence, as this is where many people (including myself) hear about the company. The exceptional reviews on their products and testimonials from customers on social media only further helps them grow and build a name for themselves as a manufacturer of premium goaltending equipment.
No comments:
Post a Comment