Enbiggen Me

[Edgy MD]

Mets stop the insanity, going to work on a bigger, better scoreboard.

[Ceetar]

I like it. 1.5 million pixels!

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

I like it!

[Edgy MD]

Ceetar wrote:

Wright in 2014 batting .307 with 14 homers? THIS IS A SCOREBOARD OF LIES!!

[Edgy MD]

Already decried as a marketing blunder.

[stevejrogers]

To be fair, this is something that could have waited until closer to Opening Day to be announced.

The Mets PR and marketing staff do have a history of seemingly living in a vacuum. Yes I know no one should care about what other teams are announcing or doing the same particular day as whatever banal thing you are rolling out, but at the same time they should notice that the online/electronic (callers to radio and television talk shows) fanbase has become notoriously angry, bitter and hostile over the last decade of futility, that they should realize they'd get hit for something like this being rolled out around the same time as a division rival landing a major signing while their franchise is sitting on their hands for most of the offseason.

Granted you can debate all you want about the merits of making moves for the sake of making moves, but it still looks kind of petty and shows an alarming lack of self awareness by the Mets staff.

I mean to show you how negative the online fanbase has gotten, clearly Pedro Martinez did not have an online presence, or listened to WFAN/1050ESPN at all during his time in New York, and clearly hasn't been following the NL East since leaving the game in 2009, as he said that Met fans are more accepting and keep hoping for the best, which got got responses of "Pedro hates us! FUCK PEDRO! FUCK HIM UP HIS STUPID ASS" by the media and social media. As if Pedro said Met fans are accepting of the shit the Mets have been giving their fans since he left.

[Edgy MD]

How is the Mets staff being petty? When exactly should they have announced this?

Do you really think I need to be shown how negative the online fanbase has gotten?

[Guest d'Kong76]

We got Cuddyer, and stadium video upgrade!!

[Gwreck]

Edgy MD wrote: Already decried as a marketing blunder

I'm not linking to that article because I think it's silly.

I am fully capable of focusing on the positive here. The Mets are fixing an error with their scoreboard: that's good.

It doesn't detract from other shortcomings in the team, but I can still be happy when they do something good. The lack of a playoff-caliber roster is a totally separate issue.

[Lefty Specialist]

"Sorry Dillon, it was either you or an upgraded scoreboard."

[Zvon]

d'Kong76 wrote: We got Cuddyer, and stadium video upgrade!!

In a nutshell.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I read somewhere that condiment station upgrades may be on the
horizon for 2016!

[batmagadanleadoff]

Odds are better than even that the Mets'll fuck this up. I mean, if they're claiming 62% more display screen space, then there's probably gonna be at least 88% more advertising, as well.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Odds are better than even that the Mets'll fuck this up. I mean, if they're claiming 62% more display screen space, then there's probably gonna be at least 88% more advertising, as well.

OK. I see what they're proposing. They're essentially replacing those vertical Cholula ads that bookended the old scoreboard with new scoreboard real estate. Color me not so impressed. It's still gonna look cluttered and overwhelmed with advertising. It's still gonna be an adboard instead of a scoreboard, as far as I'm concerned, if those illustrations are anywhere near accurate.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy MD wrote: How is the Mets staff being petty? When exactly should they have announced this? Do you really think I need to be shown how negative the online fanbase has gotten?

It looks petty because like I said, it is like the Mets are in some sort of vacuum where they are the only team doing anything of note.

Its the type of news that can be put out any time before the season started, and did it have to have a formal press release?

I'm not justifying the reaction, but at the same time, the Mets seem to have a mentality that the angry part of the fanbase doesn't exist, or they fall on the "who cares, hater gonna hate" way of fan relations.

[Guest d'Kong76]

They couldn't possibly make the Cholula (el Pabst Blue Ribbon
del hot sauces) ads any bigger!!

[Edgy MD]

I'm going to cry for the love of all that is reasonable and thoughtful. For these things have died. Steve has killed them.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm going to cry for the love of all that is reasonable and thoughtful. For these things have died. Steve has killed them.

FWIW, Hannibal Buress was not the first comic to bring up the rape allegations against Bill Cosby, but because his recent comments went viral, combined with that "Meme Me" Cosby Twitter fiasco like what, a week later when it was still simmering, THAT is when shit got real. The point is, YES, keeping eye on social media trends within a fanbase population should be a factor in non-on the field related marketing and press relations.

Fans are angry that the Mets are projected to once again provide a middle of the road team, while the division winner just signed the biggest contract of the winter, things might get messy if you roll out a press release about the new scoreboard at the same time.

[Edgy MD]

[fimg=500:wz5nzi95]http://ellisart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/sleep_of_reason.jpg[/fimg:wz5nzi95]

[stevejrogers]

Hey, you brought it up Edge and made a blogger's point an issue. And no, I'm not equating the Mets being tone deaf to a vocal and trollish minority of their fanbase to the flashpoint of Bill Cosby's fall from grace, but it falls under the same category. I'd wager if Cosby's social media staff had laid low, or if Cosby had taken Buress on, things would not have spiraled out of control.

Which is the point here. Of course the Mets probably would have taken the hits if this was rolled out at any time, but with the Scherzer signing happening literally at the same time period, the bad quips and trollish posts are that much more pointed and harsher. The Nats make a big signing, and hey look the Mets upgraded Citi FIeld's scoreboard!

The timing was just awful, and its very much been the Mets' way to seem like they honestly do not realize what the fanbase is feeling at any given time.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Yeah, Steve. I see your point. What the Mets should do now in light of the Scherzer signing is to cancel this new scoreboard deal and just keep the current hideous scoreboard.

[stevejrogers]

Stop taking the hyperbolic way of looking at what I said (yes I know I drew comparisons with Cosby's Twitter staff's "Meme Me" fiasco). The new scoreboard was something that didn't need a press release, or pushed ahead and reworded "the project was started back on Jan blah blah..." or something like that.

[Edgy MD]

So... we got this new scoreboard on the way.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

SteveJRogers wrote: Which is the point here. Of course the Mets probably would have taken the hits if this was rolled out at any time, but with the Scherzer signing happening literally at the same time period, the bad quips and trollish posts are that much more pointed and harsher. The Nats make a big signing, and hey look the Mets upgraded Citi FIeld's scoreboard! The timing was just awful, and its very much been the Mets' way to seem like they honestly do not realize what the fanbase is feeling at any given time.

Thank God they didn't touch the PSL facilities; I don't know HOW livid I'd be if they'd messed with good ol' Venturin Fara Field, or even generic, terrible Met A-4.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Edgy MD wrote: So... we got this new scoreboard on the way.

And seemingly little else in the way of an upgrade of any
kind in the whole shebang! Yay!

[MFS62]

I wonder if they did an airflow study and if they'll find out that the new scoreboard will negate the effects of bringing in the fences.

Later

[Edgy MD]

I don't wonder that.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

I call BS on the criticism or any alleged marketing blunders. There are people who will criticize the Mets anything. If it had not been the day of the Nationals signing, it would been "How can they, in the week of the week of the Nationals signing." If they had signed Scherzer themselves, it would have been "Why didn't they sign a hitter." If they had signed (another) hitter, it would have been "Why didn't they trade for a shortstop."

That's just the way it is right now, until they start winning. Winning silences a lot of stupidity.

[Ceetar]

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: I call BS on the criticism or any alleged marketing blunders. There are people who will criticize the Mets anything. If it had not been the day of the Nationals signing, it would been "How can they, in the week of the week of the Nationals signing." If they had signed Scherzer themselves, it would have been "Why didn't they sign a hitter." If they had signed (another) hitter, it would have been "Why didn't they trade for a shortstop." That's just the way it is right now, until they start winning. Winning silences a lot of stupidity.

Agreed. just because a small (and yes, Twitter is small) segment of the fanbase claims it's a marketing blunder, doesn't mean it is. If anything, it's the opposite because it's keeping people talking about the Mets. There can't be people that are going to now tune out because the Mets announced a Citi Field improvement, and almost without fail everyone that can get worked up about the Mets anything in mid-January is going to come running back when they're winning again.

Social media augments the volume of the vocal minority, but that doesn't mean their way is the right way or even a good way.

[stevejrogers]

I love the idea that you are completely no selling the fact that a social media staff, Twitter to be specific, blunder (to say nothing about the social meida viral sharing of Buress' comments) was a key factor in taking down an entertainment icon.

Stop acting like social media and/or the interwebs is something that organizations should be flat out ignoring, or treating as simply "haters gonna hate."

I understand the idea that it is the ones making the most noise that "you still have them" but no one is rage quitting over getting a new scoreboard. Its simply saying that it is yet another example of the Mets staff being in denial about how angry the fanbase has been for decades now. I mean there is a Kickstarter campaign for a "Sell The Team Now" billboard outside Citi Field!