Instagram Star Users to Document NHL Playoff Game

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Instagram Star Users to Document NHL Playoff Game

April 20th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

National media photographers won‘t be the only photojournalists packing Madison Square Garden for Saturday’s pivotal NHL playoff game between the New York Rangers and Washington Senators. Six popular Instagram photographers is being brought in to document the game with a social media twist.

And there’s a catch — the Instagrammers will get access to vantage points and corners of the storied arena that are off-limits to national media.

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The Internet photography stars are being hosted by Madison Square Garden‘s corporate arm and sponsor Delta Air Lines. They aren’t being paid or forced to take branded shots, but asked only to document the game as thoroughly and creatively as possible for dispersal on social networks. According to Mauricio Parise, Delta’s U.S. manager of brand marketing communications, the promotion is an example of how social media has changed traditional notions of sponsorship.

“Just having the sponsorship is not enough — we need to make sure we bring it to life, and social channels are allowing us to do that in ways we haven’t been able to in the past,” he says.

The honorary photographers — who go by the Instagram handles @newyorkcity, @takinyerphoto, @astrodub, @samhorine, @sgoralnik and @bridif — were picked for being especially popular on the network. Each has between about 80,000 and 200,000 followers. During and after the game, their photos will be found on Twitter via the hashtag #NYRDelta, in albums posted to Facebook and on blueshirtsunited.com, the Rangers’ official fan site.

Howard Jacobs, Madison Square Garden’s vice president of sales and marketing, says Instagram is a natural fit for sports teams.

“These photos tell great stories and Madison Square Garden and Rangers games are about a story and the excitement of being in the stands and being at the Garden,” he told Mashable in an interview.

Leveraging not just Instagram — but, more specifically, its most popular users — is a first for Madison Square Garden but something that is becoming a something of a trend for brands looking to appear hip. In January, Puma sent a group to a sailing race it sponsors in Abu Dhabi. Instagram users are also becoming more incorporated into New York Fashion Week.

Brian DiFeo, who runs the online community InstagramNYC and will be at Saturday’s Rangers game, believes the trend will continue to grow.

“A lot of this comes down to brands recognizing they can work with social media influencers that have large audiences in an organic way,” he says. “Forward-thinking brands that to do fun, cool stuff and aren’t as concerned with clicks to a website are really onto something.”