One of the great challenges in publicity is trying to find stories when sometimes there really aren’t any. Some of it may be made up of pitches saved for rainy days when writers or other media are looking for things to fill inches, blogs or video files. Some of it may be trying to spin something positive in times that are less than positive. Some of it may just be adding color or getting buzz to keep brand name relevant.
Here are a few cases of note recently. First is the New York Mets, who despite their home game heroics, are still playing second fiddle to the Yankees in terms of exposure. What do the Mets do…break a record. Not a baseball one, a crocheting one. On Saturday, over 40. Mets fans at Citi Field, during the game against the Marlins…crocheted at the same time to officially set a Guiness book of World Records mark. The event was led by crochet star, “Inside Edition” host and Mets fan Deborah Norville, and got the team some worthwhile off-sports buzz for an event that really wasn’t much of an event without the PR spin. Regardless, it was somethin outta nuttin’.
A second “announcement” came from our minor league baseball friends, the Brevard County Manatees, who decided to remove the short term “BP” for “Batting Practice” and now call the pregame ritual “hitting rehersal.” Given the effect that the oil spill could have in Florida, the move was an interesting shout out to environmental causes, especially with the mascot Brevard County employs. Was it a very smart play for national P.? It got the team brand and its officials mentioned in AP and Forbes.com stories, and helped bring yet another perspective to the oil spill crisis in the gulf. It was smart, timely, a bit tongue in cheek and did exactly what stunts are supposed to do…create buzz without creating large expense or upsetting the apple cart at all.
Any sports season is a long one…finding innovative ways to generate publicity is a challenge. Not everyone can draft Bryce Harper one day and start Stephen Strasburg the next as the Washington Nationals did this week. So the mets and Manatees deserve kudos for stretching the interest a little further and generating some good old fashioned buzz.
Thanks for this interesting entry, Joe.