I don't mind being wrong.
As a matter of fact, if the end result is a positive, I am all for being wrong.
A few days ago, I said the Tampa Bay Rays should write off MacDill Air Force Base and not increase marketing efforts to military personnel. I said they shouldn't decrease efforts, but not bother increasing them as military members probably won't grow to be long-term fans.
Yesterday, the Rays not only increased their marketing effort to military, but also to veterans and retirees throughout the Tampa Bay area. They not only didn't listen to my suggestion, they flipped it on its head, gave it a piledriver, tombstoned it, then nuked it back to the stone age.
For the final 33 home games of the 2015 season, the Tampa Bay Rays are offering free tickets to military, veteran, and retired military personnel. According to The Tampa Tribune,
That's a lot of people.
(By the way, I am quoted in that article.)
As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, the Tampa Bay area is one of the biggest metro/military areas with Major League Baseball in the US, in a group with Washington DC, Baltimore, and San Diego. According to LinkedIn, military professions are one of Tampa Bay's employment fields.
While this is a great promotion and the Rays should be lauded for it as much as possible both from a public relations and a business perspective, there are two points I want to bring up.
1) The verification process is through ID.me. ID.me is a government-approved online identity service. From their website:
While they sound legit, I'm absolutely paranoid about stuff like this. There are so many security breaches these days that having to sign up for another program - even for free tickets - seems risky. Although you can get an Rays Honor Pass through a paper application.
2) It will be interesting to see how this affects fandom. While active duty military personnel are still beholden to orders and may only stay at MacDill AFB for a few years, the Rays gesture could win the hearts and minds of retirees and veterans in the Tampa Bay area, some of whom are Rays fans and some of whom are not. Some might use the Honor Pass often, some might only use it to see the Rays play their favorite team.
Overall, this is a brilliant campaign. The Rays will get nothing but good press and goodwill for this, as they should. It may even increase attendance, which would be nice.
As a matter of fact, if the end result is a positive, I am all for being wrong.
A few days ago, I said the Tampa Bay Rays should write off MacDill Air Force Base and not increase marketing efforts to military personnel. I said they shouldn't decrease efforts, but not bother increasing them as military members probably won't grow to be long-term fans.
Yesterday, the Rays not only increased their marketing effort to military, but also to veterans and retirees throughout the Tampa Bay area. They not only didn't listen to my suggestion, they flipped it on its head, gave it a piledriver, tombstoned it, then nuked it back to the stone age.
For the final 33 home games of the 2015 season, the Tampa Bay Rays are offering free tickets to military, veteran, and retired military personnel. According to The Tampa Tribune,
Some 180,000 veterans live in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, according to local veterans services offices. Another 94,000 live in Pasco and Manatee counties.
That's a lot of people.
(By the way, I am quoted in that article.)
As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, the Tampa Bay area is one of the biggest metro/military areas with Major League Baseball in the US, in a group with Washington DC, Baltimore, and San Diego. According to LinkedIn, military professions are one of Tampa Bay's employment fields.
While this is a great promotion and the Rays should be lauded for it as much as possible both from a public relations and a business perspective, there are two points I want to bring up.
1) The verification process is through ID.me. ID.me is a government-approved online identity service. From their website:
ID.me is one of three companies, along with Verizon and Symantec, certified by the U.S. federal government to enable citizens to access sensitive personal information, including medical records, from federal agencies. To achieve this certification, ID.me had to prove adherence rigorous set of technical, privacy, and policy controls to an independent auditor.
While they sound legit, I'm absolutely paranoid about stuff like this. There are so many security breaches these days that having to sign up for another program - even for free tickets - seems risky. Although you can get an Rays Honor Pass through a paper application.
2) It will be interesting to see how this affects fandom. While active duty military personnel are still beholden to orders and may only stay at MacDill AFB for a few years, the Rays gesture could win the hearts and minds of retirees and veterans in the Tampa Bay area, some of whom are Rays fans and some of whom are not. Some might use the Honor Pass often, some might only use it to see the Rays play their favorite team.
Overall, this is a brilliant campaign. The Rays will get nothing but good press and goodwill for this, as they should. It may even increase attendance, which would be nice.