nitchCraft has a beer on the couch with the boys from “The Hockey Card Show”

In our inaugural edition, nitchCraft takes a look at The Hockey Card Show, an Ontario-based podcast that dives into one of my favourite childhood past times.  I learned about them through their active presence on twitter and had the chance to pick the brains of the hosts of the show, Justin (the creator) and Darrin (the comic relief).  I’d encourage everyone who loves or once loved hockey cards or even hockey to check out the show, and of course, read the interview below (which might be the least G-Rated content in the history of the blog!). Brand: The Hockey...

Introducing nitchCraft: Exploring how entrepreneurs connect with niche audiences through media and content

It’s an exciting day today at the nitchblog as I’m introducing a new feature this week that I’m calling ‘nitchCraft’.  Personally, I think it’s a clever title, but the jury’s still out! The idea behind this series is to explore the “craft” of niche as it relates to content in the digital and social media spaces.  To do this, I’ll be conducting (hopefully) fun and (potentially) informative interviews with a diverse collection of business owners, content creators and entrepreneurs who are using the interwebs to...

Why “facebucks” will change the world… if they don’t screw it up

As everyone knows, twitter is “so hot right now” and facebook is “so over”. Well call me old-fashioned but I still have a lot more faith in Zuckerberg than I do in @ev and co.. I don’t really want to get into all my reasons (mainly because I’m saving them for another post) but I will say that for me, reason number one is that facebook is absolutely jam-packed with content. Content that’s very relevant to our lives and recommended to us by our friends. And with each evolution of the platform, they’re getting better at...

Billionaire Wrestlemania comes to Denver – just without the wrestling

E. Stan Kroenke never thought there was going to be a basketball game in Denver last night, and that’s where his problem started. Kroenke, the owner of the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL and Pepsi Centre, the venue both teams call home, has been at the center of a war of words between World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the past week. The only thing is, in spite of being the catalyst for the entire fiasco, E. hasn’t spoken a word. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the play on...

Why the NHL’s Winter Classic is too little, too late for Bettman

It didn’t matter that the gametime temperature was -13 Celsius. It didn’t matter that the ‘rink’ was a converted baseball stadium. It didn’t matter that the fans with seats in row one were a hundred meters away from the action. This was a game that nobody was going to miss. Over 40,000 fans – in a US city to boot – braved the cold to watch the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 on New Years Day in the second installment of a short-lived tradition, affectionately referred to as the “Winter Classic”. ...

Online video arrives with a five ring circus

In case you’ve been under a rock for a the last week, I’ll let you know that the Olympics are here people! And the best part is, if that’s news to you, you haven’t missed a thing! Let me explain… The Olympics create an international buzz that is virtually unmatched. They create heroes that nations will remember for lifetimes. They bring warring nations together. And most importantly, they cause myself and possibly even billions of other people become fascinated with things that they would NEVER even pay the mildest bit of attention to...

Why the (All) Stars may never shine

Okay that pun was a little ridiculous. Sorry. But with the NHL, NFL and NBA having just completed their respective All-Star games season, we’re now officially through a time of the year that the niche we call “sports fans” are coming to loathe more and more. The problem is that as the leagues move to make these events showcases of their games to the fans, they’re moving closer and closer to some hybrid of the Academy Awards and the Battle of the Network Stars and further and further away from the fierce and competitive action which fills their...

Brand it with Beckham?

Well it finally happened.  David Beckham played significant minutes for the first time since ‘Coming to America’, and he dominated.  For all those (including Beckham’s own team LA Galaxy GM, Alexi Lalas) who continue to claim that MLS soccer is at the same level of English Premiership, Beckham, whose star has been diminishing in Europe, simply dominated in less than 70 minutes in his debut.  So what does this all mean, and what does it have to do with niche marketing?  Glad you asked… As much as they don’t want to admit it, Major League...

Getting the (foot)ball rolling

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Inaugural home game of Toronto’s newest professional sporting franchise, Toronto FC. As someone who attends a considerable amount of my limited personal funds on attending live sports, I’d have to say that this was in terms of value for my money, maybe the greatest event I’ve ever been to! Of course I’m not just writing this to gush about a soccer… sorry, football match. It’s actually to point out that what FC has seemingly done, right out of the gate, is recognize that they are...