Or positive blogging at least. Yesterday, we posted a piece on Joe Torre's rocky start as a manager. It took him six seasons to reach .500. This is Manny's third. Will Manny be as successful as Torre? Stupid question. Will the Nats be as successful tonight as they were last night if I resist the urge to write a snarky post about them and instead say something positive (or at least constructive?) Let's give it a try.
I know a little about marketing. At least I pretend to in my day job. I think the Nats marketing campaign is an awful failure. I don't think anyone there knows much about this market. The DC area is the most hyper-educated in the country. There are more advanced degree holders here than anywhere else - by a wide margin.
"Washington, D.C., has the highest percentage of adults on the top rung, with 22.2 percent holding advanced degrees"
So why they think something as pedestrian as "NatsTown" would work is proof positive they don't get the market. Also Clint. And shooting sausages at the crowd. And, and, and.
DC is the smartest city in the room. I used to joke to a good friend in NY that while women there were more attractive than women in DC, the women in DC could probably tell you how to restructure debt in the developing world. And that beauty always fades.
This presents both challenges and opportunities from a marketing point of view. Think of the little things other trams do...specifically the Wizards line at the beginning of a game about being the most powerful city on the planet. That drives people from other cities bonkers. So at the start of the game, why not say, "All rise for the National(s) anthem"? The stupid Phillies couldn't say that.
The Nats need to elevate their game on and off the field. There are glimmers of a decent on the field product. Now Stan needs to get cracking on the other side. And why they didn't get NutraSystem to sponsor the Screech rebrand is beyond me.
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Good point. However, the high brow mentality of D.C. area residents is also a detriment to building a fan base. Seems to me baseball does best in blue collar towns. Do you remember the "Grounds Crew" blog from last year's Washington Post and the complaints be many of the bloggers about the lack of upscale cuisine at the new ball park? Who eats humus or a Panini sandwich at a baseball game? Geez, I'm usually very careful with what I eat, but I love downing some nachos and a Ben's "All the Way" Half Smoke when I go to a game. As a native Washingtonian, I'm entitled to say that most Washingtonians are pretentious frauds who normally can’t hold an intelligent outside their area of work expertise.
All sports do better in blue collar towns. Affluence tends to breed "front runnerism" - People only show up for the event and to see and be seen. The higher educated and "more cultured" also tend to fear making asses of themselves and don't lose themselves in the game and scream like banshees. That is what was so special about the Redskins in RFK -we did not act like Washingtonians there. Not so at FedEx...
The promotional tie in I would want to see is one of our so-called nutritional poisoners like Outback Steakhouse or Burger King sponser the return of "I eat very well, thank you" fat Screech. Or better yet, Chick Fil A. When you thing of "Eat Mor Chikn" do you want to munch on a scrawny bird like new Screech, or a big, plumb roaster like old Screech? Oops, I keep forgetting Old Screech was not a chicken. New Screech doesn't much look like an eagle as much as a generic white feathered bird that makes him look like a rip-off of the Oriole Bird. Another unimaginative marketing "winner" there ...
Personally, I love hummus, but I don't think it belongs at the ballpark. Besides, I bet that hummus will be as hard to find as sauerkraut was last year by mid-July. Or for that matter - an open concession stand.
I don't see LA as a blue collar town and think the Lakers and Dodgers do well. Of course they can't hold an NFL team. Perhaps because Hollywood types can't be on camera in a place like the Coliseum.
Seeing Peroni everywhere at Nats Park bugs me but I've yet to come across humus or panini's...but that would bug me too.
As a native Virginian I agree that most transplants are pretentious frauds but most natives aren't. I'd hope with a decent team the Nats could have a nice mix both equaling about 30K a game. What's too bad is that the Great Recession is exacerbating the fact they made a dreadful choice locating the stadium where they did and it's going to be years until the retail gets moving.
But back to the point of DC being a "see and be seen" place as DMan said, filled with bandwagon fans. Every sports fan in DC knows that so I assume the Lerners and Kasten do as well. Last night was a perfect baseball evening. The O's were in town. It was the beginning of a long weekend. A whopping 22K showed up.
Besides. My experiment failed...they lost.
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