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Tuesday, September 28, 2021

New York Mets Embark on Branding Effort to Build Cred and Win Young Fans

Mr. Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer of hedge fund Point72 Asset Management LP and lifelong Mets fan, bought the team last year in a deal valued at some $2.4 billion. He has set out to log more wins, not only on the scoreboard, but in the hearts and minds of casual and prospective fans.

He and his wife Alexandra Cohen have prescribed a marketing overhaul that will include an update to the team’s brand design, including customized fonts in marketing materials like photography, signage and ads, as well as new experiences and features at its stadium meant to give the Mets more cultural credibility.

But the new owners face difficulties beyond player strikeouts, as baseball and other sports struggle to attract young people, a group increasingly apathetic to live games.

“All sports are being challenged with how you attract young fans,” said Jeff Deline, the team’s new chief revenue officer. “How do we get them engaged again? Their consumer habits are completely different.”

Marketing and talent management firm Range Media Partners LLC is leading the effort. The initiative remains in development, but ideas include offering live comedy throughout games, updating existing spaces in the stadium where people can gather, adding more screens throughout the baseball park and making other technology upgrades, said Natalie Bruss, managing partner at Range, which is minority-owned by Mr. Cohen’s venture capital fund, Point72 Ventures.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 28, 2021 at 11:23 AM | 61 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
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1. JJ1986 Posted: September 28, 2021 at 11:36 AM (#6042112)

My kids would watch more games if the team wasn't terrible.

2. greenback does not like sand

Posted: September 28, 2021 at 11:42 AM (#6042116)

Maybe they should give Lindor the nickname "Poochie."

3. I Am Not a Number Posted: September 28, 2021 at 11:45 AM (#6042118)

#1, even with the bold transition to customized fonts?

4. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: September 28, 2021 at 11:49 AM (#6042119)

#lolfonts

5. mathesond Posted: September 28, 2021 at 12:00 PM (#6042122)

Wilmer Font?

6. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: September 28, 2021 at 12:56 PM (#6042129)

7. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 28, 2021 at 01:23 PM (#6042135)

but ideas include offering live comedy throughout games

Well this explains their roster decisions.

8. salvomania Posted: September 28, 2021 at 01:23 PM (#6042136)

They should try fresh-faced young rappers speaking to kids in the language of today.

9. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: September 28, 2021 at 01:45 PM (#6042138)

but ideas include offering live comedy throughout games

This is an excellent way to attract young fans to Shea Stadium in 1989.

10. The Yankee Clapper Posted: September 28, 2021 at 01:47 PM (#6042139)

The initiative remains in development, but ideas include offering live comedy throughout games, updating existing spaces in the stadium where people can gather, adding more screens throughout the baseball park and making other technology upgrades, said Natalie Bruss, managing partner at Range, which is minority-owned by Mr. Cohen’s venture capital fund, Point72 Ventures.

A dedicated self-immolation area?

11. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: September 28, 2021 at 02:10 PM (#6042142)

A dedicated self-immolation area?

They could call it "Fire Island."

12. Brian C Posted: September 28, 2021 at 02:25 PM (#6042143)

ideas include offering live comedy throughout games

All this time, I've been resisting the notion that baseball is dying. But I see we've now reached the meta stage where the belief it is happening is turning into self-fulfilling prophecy.

13. Howie Menckel Posted: September 28, 2021 at 02:30 PM (#6042145)

obviously they need to go the Kardashian route - have Mr. and Mrs. Met make a sex tape that gets leaked out !

mascots of other teams also could be involved.

14. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 28, 2021 at 02:37 PM (#6042146)

mascots of other teams also could be involved.

They already are.

15. The Mighty Quintana Posted: September 28, 2021 at 02:41 PM (#6042148)

Can't the Mets not embarrass themselves for one entire week?

16. winnipegwhip Posted: September 28, 2021 at 04:32 PM (#6042169)

but ideas include offering live comedy throughout games

Well this explains their roster decisions.

I pictured it as comedians between innings .....

"You've been a great crowd. Thanks a lot. Now coming up is the 3-4-5 hitters for the Mets."

I would love to see a comedian enter the field after a Joe West call to end the inning. "Thanks a lot! That was Joe West, ladies and gentleman. When he goes camping, the bear hides his food!"

17. Howie Menckel Posted: September 28, 2021 at 04:57 PM (#6042178)

Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Kevin James, Hank Azaria, Jimmy Kimmel, and Bill Maher are all known to be Mets fans.

not sure if any team can match that collective social media clout.

18. BDC

Posted: September 28, 2021 at 05:07 PM (#6042182)

More engaging marketing signage would definitely get me out to Arlington's Billion Dollar Barn much more often. Sure the team might lose 100 games, but paradigm-breaking advertising synergy creates a cultural credibility that just can't be ignored.

They do have a large colorful letter T on the side of the stadium, and it is lit up at night so that it is visible from Highway 180.

19. Walt Davis Posted: September 28, 2021 at 05:25 PM (#6042185)

not sure if any team can match that collective social media clout.

What's Olivia Rodrigo's favorite team?

I kid but ... you think that group is "social media" clout? Jimmy Fallon (not in your list) cracks the top 50 on Twitter with 51 M followers while everybody in your group has less "social media clout" than Wiz Khalifa (#50 at 36 M). Is Rihanna a Met fan? Cuz then you're talking clout.

I think Kimmel might be the youngest of the people you mentioned -- he's 53.

20. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 28, 2021 at 05:28 PM (#6042186)

Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Kevin James, Hank Azaria, Jimmy Kimmel, and Bill Maher are all known to be Mets fans.

not sure if any team can match that collective social media clout.

The 2015 World Series could have been a comedy festival - the Royals have Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, David Koechner, and Heidi Gardner in their fanbase, and Eric Stonestreet is a part-owner.

21. Never Give an Inge (Dave) Posted: September 28, 2021 at 05:56 PM (#6042191)

I don't think there's anything wrong with the Mets' branding that wouldn't be fixed by (a) winning on the field and (b) improvements in pace-of-play that require changes across all teams, not just the Mets.

The team underperformed this year in somewhat spectacular fashion, but it wasn't the fonts or the ads that put up a .703 OPS.

22. JJ1986 Posted: September 28, 2021 at 06:12 PM (#6042193)

Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Kevin James, Hank Azaria, Jimmy Kimmel, and Bill Maher are all known to be Mets fans.

This will definitely help with that elusive baby-boomer demographic.

23. Howie Menckel Posted: September 28, 2021 at 06:57 PM (#6042197)

ah, "Win Young Fans" in the headline - clearly I missed that

:)

24. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: September 28, 2021 at 08:17 PM (#6042211)

This will definitely help with that elusive baby-boomer demographic.

In fairness, they get at least one millennial with Seinfeld’s wife.

25. reech Posted: September 28, 2021 at 09:29 PM (#6042224)

wanna draw more families? Lower the gawdamn parking costs!

26. Howie Menckel Posted: September 28, 2021 at 10:51 PM (#6042259)

don't Mets fans still park under the highway about 200 yards away for free? that was a longstanding tradition when people like me had a crappy car (which, if 25 bucks in 2021 dollars is too dear for parking, yeah you have a crappy car).

meanwhile a Mets doubleheader sweep today means they have countered the Cardinals' 17-0 run with a 17-27 run of their own.

#welp

I believe they finished 5-0-10 in 15 doubleheaders this season, the most twinbills in MLB since 1979.

maybe they should just petition for 81 doubleheaders as their 2022 schedule.

27. the Hugh Jorgan returns Posted: September 28, 2021 at 10:56 PM (#6042262)

Just make the games less boring. Initiate a 10-12 second pitch clock and kill 90% of the dead time within the game and young people will watch.

I was a kid once and still have a really short attention span, but the game moved faster back in the day and it was just simply more fun to watch. I know we've been over this 1000's of times,

Or in true Cohen and current MLB style, between pitches they could offer unregulated future options and derivatives via an app you can download for free!

28. The Honorable Ardo Posted: September 29, 2021 at 01:39 AM (#6042279)

Top 20 most followed individuals on Twitter, for the curious:

1. Barack Obama
2. Justin Bieber
3. Katy Perry
4. Rihanna
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Taylor Swift
7. Ariana Grande
8. Lady Gaga
9. Ellen DeGeneres
10. Narendra Modi
---
11. Kim Kardashian
12. Selena Gomez
13. Justin Timberlake
14. Elon Musk
15. Britney Spears
16. Bill Gates
17. Neymar
18. Demi Lovato
19. Shakira
20. Jimmy Fallon

Aside from Fallon, I don't know if there are any baseball fans in this assortment.

29. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: September 29, 2021 at 08:51 AM (#6042300)

30. JJ1986 Posted: September 29, 2021 at 09:12 AM (#6042303)

Nothing against her, but I did not realize Katy Perry was still a big deal.

31. DL from MN Posted: September 29, 2021 at 10:09 AM (#6042309)

I thought Twitter was more for millenials with the youngsters using TikTok. Will Smith is the only one I've heard of until I searched for the list.

1st charli d’amelio 125,200,000
2nd Khabane lame 113,800,000
3rd Addison Rae 84,000,000
4th Bella Poarch 83,000,000
5th Zach King 65,300,000
6th Will Smith 61,900,000
7th TikTok 57,100,000
8th dixie 55,200,000-
9th Spencer X 54,800,000
10th Loren Gray 54,100,000
11th Kimberly Loaiza 51,800,000

32. My name is Votto, and I love to get Moppo Posted: September 29, 2021 at 11:18 AM (#6042317)

Aside from Fallon, I don't know if there are any baseball fans in this assortment.

Obama is a White Sox fan. Timberlake is an NBA fan, but not sure about baseball.

33. The Mighty Quintana Posted: September 29, 2021 at 12:29 PM (#6042337)

You want comedy at games? Just show Max Patkin videos on the jumbotron!

34. JJ1986 Posted: September 29, 2021 at 12:50 PM (#6042342)

Addison Rae takes cool dances from minorities on TikTok and makes them look uncool. Will Smith is either the Dodgers catcher or the Braves closer. I've never heard of any of the others.

35. Never Give an Inge (Dave) Posted: September 29, 2021 at 01:50 PM (#6042359)

Nothing against her, but I did not realize Katy Perry was still a big deal.

She's a judge on American Idol, which is still a pretty big show. I don't think her latest album did that well.

But it's also not like you lose Twitter followers once you've acquired them. She was one of the early stars to really embrace social media and had a huge following like 10 years ago.

I thought Twitter was more for millenials with the youngsters using TikTok.

I think that's more the Instagram vs. TikTok divide.

36. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 29, 2021 at 02:00 PM (#6042362)

1. Barack Obama
2. Justin Bieber
3. Katy Perry
4. Rihanna
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Taylor Swift
7. Ariana Grande
8. Lady Gaga
9. Ellen DeGeneres
10. Narendra Modi
---
11. Kim Kardashian
12. Selena Gomez
13. Justin Timberlake
14. Elon Musk
15. Britney Spears
16. Bill Gates
17. Neymar
18. Demi Lovato
19. Shakira
20. Jimmy Fallon

LOL, I haven't heard of half of these people. Barack..Obama? Okay.

37. My name is Votto, and I love to get Moppo Posted: September 29, 2021 at 02:08 PM (#6042364)

I'm proud to say that I know all who all 20 of those people are, unlike the list in #31.

38. Ziggy: social distancing since 1980 Posted: September 29, 2021 at 02:15 PM (#6042367)

"It's a problem," Cohen admitted, "we've got to attract a broader fanbase. To that end, we've decided that the team needs a serious re-branding. Henceforth, the team will be called the 'New York Yankees'. Just like the old Mets borrowed the colors of the much-beloved Giants and Dodgers, so the new Mets have decided to borrow from a team that had a long and successful history in New York. We expect that loyalty from the old Yankee fans will translate naturally to the new Yankees, and that we will have a packed stadium in Queens for many years to come."

39. Lassus Posted: September 29, 2021 at 03:12 PM (#6042381)

This has been a much longer season than I expected when it was fucking July.

40. billyshears Posted: September 29, 2021 at 04:15 PM (#6042400)

This has been a much longer season than I expected when it was ####### July.

Every time I got to ESPN, I'm shocked that there is still baseball going on.

41. Greg Pope Posted: September 29, 2021 at 04:31 PM (#6042404)

I'm proud to say that I know all who all 20 of those people are, unlike the list in #31.

I know 19 of the 20.

(looks up number 10)

Wow, Modi seems really out of place there. I know India's got a billion people, but if they were driving Twitter enough to get Modi up there, then I would have thought that there would be a bunch of Indian celebrities/sports figures there as well.

42. JJ1986 Posted: September 29, 2021 at 04:39 PM (#6042407)

As a regular Twitter user, I'm kind of stunned that the top 20 includes 0 members of BTS.

43. DL from MN Posted: September 29, 2021 at 05:48 PM (#6042421)

Distribution of Twitter users worldwide as of April 2021, by age group.
Characteristic Share of users
18-24 17.1%
25-34 38.5%
35-49 20.7%
50+ 17.1%

So, 50% millenials?

The percentage of U.S.-based TikTok users by age: 10-19 – 32.5%, 20-29 – 29.5%, 30-39 – 16.4%, 40-49 – 13.9%, 50+ – 7.1%.

60% gen Z

44. Greg Pope Posted: September 29, 2021 at 06:26 PM (#6042432)

My old white guy guess on the TikTok/Twitter thing is that the people at the top of the TikTok list are there because they became famous on TikTok. Which is why I've never heard of any of them. People with tons of Twitter followers were famous for other things, and their fans just want to follow them. So naturally I've heard of 19 of those.

45. Never Give an Inge (Dave) Posted: September 29, 2021 at 08:50 PM (#6042457)

Modi has had an active social media strategy since before he was PM.

46. The Honorable Ardo Posted: September 29, 2021 at 11:23 PM (#6042488)

I would have thought that there would be a bunch of Indian celebrities/sports figures there as well.

Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Akshay Kumar, and Shah Rukh Khan all appear between 20th-30th place, in the same neighborhood as Oprah and J-Lo.

47. DL from MN Posted: September 30, 2021 at 08:47 AM (#6042515)

Nobody has anything to say about this?

The team is also enlisting sponsors to help create new experiences for fans. It worked with sponsor Airbnb Inc., for example, to turn an unused office space at Citi Field into a one-night stay in July hosted by former Mets player Bobby Bonilla.

How much would you bid to sleep in an unused office with Bobby Bonilla?

48. DL from MN Posted: September 30, 2021 at 08:50 AM (#6042516)

This should be terrifying to MLB. That's their core 2040 audience shrinking in half.

The number of people ages 7 to 17 playing baseball in the U.S. has also plunged in recent decades. Last year, it hit 4.9 million, down from 6.3 million in 2010 and 10 million in 1995, according to data from the National Sporting Goods Association.

49. Greg Pope Posted: September 30, 2021 at 09:32 AM (#6042520)

Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Akshay Kumar, and Shah Rukh Khan all appear between 20th-30th place, in the same neighborhood as Oprah and J-Lo.

OK, that makes sense.

50. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: September 30, 2021 at 10:01 AM (#6042525)

This should be terrifying to MLB. That's their core 2040 audience shrinking in half.

Screw MLB; society should be terrified that young people increasingly prefer to interact with screens rather than actually doing real things with real people.

51. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: September 30, 2021 at 10:20 AM (#6042526)

How much would you bid to sleep in an unused office with Bobby Bonilla?

$100, deferred over the next 45 years.

52. JJ1986 Posted: September 30, 2021 at 10:53 AM (#6042537)

Screw MLB; society should be terrified that young people increasingly prefer to interact with screens rather than actually doing real things with real people.

They've been saying this since screens have been a thing.

53. Lassus Posted: September 30, 2021 at 01:07 PM (#6042555)

I.e., television.

I still love the juxtaposition of people on their phones on the train now and everyone reading their newspaper on the trains in B&W.

54. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: September 30, 2021 at 01:15 PM (#6042557)

They've been saying this since screens have been a thing.

Except nobody could carry their TV with them 24/7. There's research out there, and lots of screen time (especially social media) is correlated with plenty of bad outcomes for young people.

There's a reason the private schools the Silicon Valley moguls send their kids to are screen-less. Many of them also refuse to let their kids use the technology at home. It's designed to re-wire your brain and addict you.

55. Lassus Posted: September 30, 2021 at 01:38 PM (#6042561)

Many of them also refuse to let their kids use the technology at home.

You're treading into "Pfizer/Moderna employees won't take rDNA vaccines because THEY KNOW" territory here.

56. Brian C Posted: September 30, 2021 at 07:46 PM (#6042638)

57. Lassus Posted: September 30, 2021 at 08:31 PM (#6042648)

OK, that's way more perceptive than my comment.

58. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: September 30, 2021 at 10:25 PM (#6042710)

Is there anything more amusingly ironic than someone complaining on an internet forum about other people spending too much time looking at screens? And someone who's been an omnipresent member here for something like 15 years, no less.

Yeah, you're right. I mean 30 year old message board technology is exactly the same as 2021 optimized social media, and things effect 10-18 y.o.'s exactly the same as they do 35-60 y.o. men. I guess I'll tell my nephews they should have a couple of double bourbons while they watch movies, since it works for me.

59. The Yankee Clapper Posted: September 30, 2021 at 11:12 PM (#6042737)

I'll tell my nephews they should have a couple of double bourbons while they watch movies, since it works for me.

Going for ‘favorite uncle’ status, eh?

60. the Hugh Jorgan returns Posted: September 30, 2021 at 11:55 PM (#6042740)

guess I'll tell my nephews they should have a couple of double bourbons while they watch movies, since it works for me.

Hey old man, you misspelt pornography.

I know you have to run soon as there are some more passing clouds you need to shout at.

61. Slivers of Maranville descends into chaos (SdeB) Posted: October 01, 2021 at 12:59 AM (#6042741)

And all along the Mets thought it was 'Building Crud'.

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New York Mets Embark on Branding Effort to Build Cred and Win Young Fans

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