This is a blog post about what ice skates, hockey sticks and pucks have to do with marketing a new product. Because believe it or not, there’s a lot in common between whatever you do, and ice skates, hockey sticks, and pucks. Andreas Schwabe is Graphos' Director of Media Services. Before that he was the first webmaster of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, and among the first pro sports webmasters. Is there demand for your product? What’s the ideal selling price and how will it affect the market segment? What is the brand promise? What’s the product’ unique selling proposition (USP) or differentiation in the market? After highlighting just a few of the moving parts, I might need to re-visit this topic again sometime. Professional sport does everything big. Success is big, failure is big. If you learn the lessons of pro sports, your business can thrive in the big leagues.