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…it’s not easy being a Mets fan - not just because of the team’s more successful, older, cross-town brother, but because my favorite organization has no idea how to manage expectations…
…the Mets need to do us and themselves a favor and stop leading with their chin…
…my professional background, prior to writing MetsBlog, was as a media consultant - and there is an old adage in journalism that goes, “Never get out in front of the story,” because if the story changes or dies on the table, you’ll be lost and alone and looking like a fool…well, i’d impart this same advice to the Mets: don’t get out in front of your results…because when you do, and you fail, like last season, you look lost, alone and foolish…and what’s worse, you drag us with you…
…it’s all about managing expectations, which, from what i can tell, the Mets have never been very good at doing…
…for instance, when you hang a gigantic banner on the front door which reads, “Your Season has Come,” or, “The New Mets,” or, “Catch the Energy,” you are setting yourself up to be mocked - assuming you do not win the World Series…i mean, in this media environment, and with such arrogant rivals, if you stick our collective head out that far it’s bound to get lopped off…not even the most successful team is going to be able to meet this level of hype, which is probably why the team’s who are perceived to be most successful simply let their results for speak for themselves…
…in other words, please, quit it with the slogans…and definitely do not put them to music, like this horrible effort…believe me, i’ll know if you are a good team just by watching the product, i don’t need you to raise my expectations in advance…
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One of the best posts I’ve read on this site for a while. I strongly believe that this failure in the PR department can be directly linked to the problems we were having earlier this offseason - that other teams did not like the Mets prospects. This team has a PR problem, from the way it markets the team to its fans to the way it markets its prospects to other teams.
Yeah, they are embarrassing sometimes with the way they handle things.
…and please for the love of God can they stop playing the “everybody clap your hands” thing every 3 seconds? Like NY fans need to be told when to applaud.
I’ve heard that at other stadiums too. It’s a standard practice across the industry.
It doesn’t matter. It’s the most annoying thing … get rid of it.
OK, you set up the meeting with the 30 owners, I’ll make the pitch.
Done! You have a good curveball?
More of an eepheus pitch.
Nice, that will work. Hypnosis.
Agreed, and the play “Everybody clap your hands” FAR more frequently at Shea than elsewhere.
What’s embarrassing is the misplaced confidence coupled with an embrace of second-tier status, e.g., wild card banners.
Mets: sell it as exciting baseball. Don’t “hype it,” don’t pretend it’s World Series or bust this year. Just say — “watch David Wright, Jose Reyes, and the New York Mets take on X in the last year at Shea.” If thwy win, the marketing takes care of itself. There’s no need to have a marketing department constantly justifying its existence with stupid slogans, songs, and shallow hype that just makes the franchise look silly.
This has become a huge issue in all sports today…teams think they know what the fans want to make the experience more enjoyable, and yet they completely miss the big picture: if you give them a superior product, the rest takes care of itself. I grew up attending a ton of Lakers games in LA in the 80s, and there were no t-shirts being fired into the crowd, no digital screens that implored people to make ‘noise’ (actually, the scoreboard was always missing a few lights, and only kept track of the most basic stats)….and, because the team was so entertaining, the atmosphere was electric. One of my favorite baseball spectating experiences happened two years ago while watching a Giants game in San Francisco. In the third inning there was a ballpark-wide power failure, which killed all the scoreboards and PA systems, everything except for the lights. Somehow, the crowd knew when to cheer, and the only sounds were actually created by the crowd, the ump and the game…it was beautiful!
It’s the “baseball (or other sports) as carnival” theory, which posits that the “experience” is what makes people attend rather than just watch TV, and the “experience” includes all of that ridiculous hot dog gun/ dancing on the dugout/”Cotton-Eyed Joe” crap. They think that there are family members or friends who would otherwise veto a trip to the game that are convinced too attend because they’ll be “entertained” even though they don’t like baseball. I think this theory is fundamentally flawed, but they have record attendance, and it’s tough to make the argument that the figures are up IN SPITE OF the peripherals (even though I think that’s the case.)
i love everybody clap your hands. it sing it to myself all the time. its fun. i seriously effing love it.
then i heard that commercial with mc hammer and his kid and realized it was a song by mc hammer and i downloaded it right afterward. im going to listen right now.
every body clap your hands
ha hah!
Are you wearing a helmet right now?
Every…body….crapyourpants….
poot-poot-poot-poot-poot-poot-poot-poot
Perfect example is Endy Chavez “the catch” bobble head day - what organization celebrates a play in a game that they LOST! and an elimination loss…
Seriously Matt, one of the best posts this site has seen.
amen.
second it
thiiiiiird.
The Mets will be mocked regardless of banners or slogans or whether they win everyg ame or lose every game. It’s the function of sports fans to root for your team and tear down everyone else.
For example… the Spankees are mercilessly torn apart by fans of every team, because they spend tons of money and their fans are less than hospitable.
Very well said Matt. I agree 100%!
Ok nice post. But I have a more succinct PR strategy.
After a mindblowing collapse, give your poor fans a break: do not trade Lastings Milledge for overpaid scrubs and cynically raise ticket prices unreasonably. If you follow these rules, then you can sing any damn song you like.
What spurred this post? Fed up with the Santana stuff or Omar’s SI jinx that he has placed on the franchise? Lets GO GIANTS!
yeah upon reading this post i thought it would end with “johan to the yankees.” a suicide note of sorts
Matt,
It’s just a slogan. Selling 2008 playoff tickets in April would be something that constitutes “leading with your chin”.
Of course some of these slogan conjur up good memories.. “baseball like it outta be” is seen in a positive light as opposed to “your team, your time”
What I would like to see, and they come far a few between, is a team rallying cry..not something manufacture by a marketing team but by the team itself that extends to the fans.
Something like “you gotta believe” did alot in ‘69 and is still reverberates today. Some type of quote or saying reminding them that they have to earn the division and there are no off days in the season.
As a raider fan i say we borrow “Just win” since they dont seem to be using it at the moment.
Hey, Raiders and Mets, me too..Not much to cheer about lately
not to nitpick, but “You Gotta Believe” came from Tug during the ‘73 run.
youre right xavier22, thanks for the correction.
I always loved when they played The Doors after every win in the 99 season. Or was it 2000? Whatever, that used to get me pumped…loved it.
Jedimynd,
“ya gotta believe” was Tug’s rallying cry in 1973, NOT the 69 WS team, which was the miracle mets.
You have much learning yet to do, young paduan,
‘73
i’m surprised anyone really cares, who cares what other people think, this isn’t a popularity contest, and for that matter, who cares what the PR people put out, thats my last concern. I like the Mets because I like baseball, bottom line. Decide for yourself what to expect/think, if you let other people, the media, a baseball team, decide for you, then what’s really left for yourself?
Darksie, do you expect us to believe that you don’t like really cool slogans? What about: “the New York Mets: Itsmetsforme’s Favorite Team.”
You’re shameless.
Couldn’t agree more Matt. Let’s leave all that BS to the smaller market teams. At the risk of sounding arrogant, THIS IS NEW YORK. Let’s start acting like a big market team. Let’s stop with these idiotic slogans like we’re Tampa Bay or Kansas City….PLEASE.
Agreed!
Although Catch The Rising Stars and Baseball Like it Outta Be were very catchy and memorable when I was 10 and 11 years old.
A lot of the marketing around the Mets is so freakin tacky it makes me want to puke. I think this is more marketing than PR. Although the face of our PR department is a long lasting joke even internally in the Mets domain.
Wow. I like “This is New York.”
Works on so many levels. We aren’t some backwater team, and hey, a nice little shot against that other NY team…
Pitch it!
wow matt quite profound and emotional.