Yankees’ Hope Week Reaches A Milestone, And Keeps Growing…

This coming week will mark a five year milestone for the New York Yankees and their tent pole in-season awareness program, Hope Week. While all teams have a responsibility to give back to their fans year-round and the Yankees themselves have expansive foundations run by Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Joe Girardi and many others, the New York Yankees have created quite the niche with Hope Week, and have found ways to expand it every year.  What sets Hope Week apart for the Yankees is the expansive connections each and every member of the organization makes with so many different organizations during the busiest part of the season. The plan, which ranges from visits to having various groups and organizations come to Yankee Stadium, takes every part of the organization and exposes the brand to a wide variety of stories that will have a cumulative ripple effect way beyond the initial meetings. It is Community Relations and outreach to the max, and as a result garnered exposure not just locally but nationally, with a full-length feature on the Today Show on Friday.

Does this mean the Yankees cram all their good will into one week? No. What Hope Week does is serve as a great example of what the value of sport and celebrity can do for so many charities and causes, and draws attention to all in one concerted effort. There is lots of follow-up, and lots of special events, the team and the players do prior and will continue to do after. However by focusing so many efforts in one week, it serves as a great reminder to all what the team can stand for in the community. Each year the event has grown, getting national attention even by The White House now,  and year five is serving as a great look back as well as a look into new ways to engage and build serving as a “Must Do” not just for baseball teams but for every elite team that wins a world title. Brazil should do a hope week for soccer in World Cup…the Clippers in LA. It should also not end with the pro teams. The most elite of college programs should do the same, and the USOC could handle as well. No the Yanks are not alone in bringing hope. What they have done first is really use the wide-ranging week, in midseason, to expand the brand and once again convey their leadership, this time off the field. Well done.