Friday, August 7, 2015

How to market baseball to women ... if you must

Tonight, the Rays host "Girls Night Out" at Tropicana Field. While great in idea and not their first "Girls Night" of the year, this current effort comes after a day of local missteps and organizational bad comments regarding women and sports. And the Rays effort is not without it's own miscalculation.

Kicking things off yesterday was the Bucs RED campaign, designed to attract female fans. While some cheered the effort and saw nothing wrong with the Bucs courting the female demographic, others said the team fumbled the ball and leaned too hard on "stereotypical" female marketing tropes, such as fashion tips and "football 101 for women" efforts. They accused the Bucs of "mansplaining" football.

A few hours after the Bucs bungle, Rays minor leaguer Carter Burgess caused a minor uproar when he tweeted his objection to the presence of a female analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.




While twitter is often the land of stream of consciousness, there are somethings better left unsaid, even if you believe in them with 100% of your being. Insulting the intelligence of women by saying they have no business breaking down a baseball swing is on that list. Especially if you work in professional baseball. Of course, Burgess since deleted his account. I'm sure he got a stern talking to by the Rays organization.

Back to the Rays "Girls Night Out" promotion. Look at the picture. Looks great, right?




Women of different ages having fun, wearing Rays merch, and enjoying themselves at the game. The giveaways aren't offensive by any means. But look a bit deeper. Click the link for more information.




Presented by Hooters? That's not delightfully tacky, that's just dumb.

Nothing against Hooters. They are a locally-started business that has done very well and provided many young women with positive opportunities and their wings aren't bad either. But there is a stereotype surrounding Hooters. They were the first "breastaurant", where skimpily clad attractive young women serve food to tables of men old enough to be their dad. Women who don't fit the mold need not apply.

Hooters should not should be presenting "Girls Night Out". If anything, Hooters would be better off sponsoring "Guys Night Out".

I don't understand how difficult it is to market to women. Why do sports teams continuously drop the ball?

In an effort to help, here are a few ideas how local baseball teams can market to women, if they must.

1) Have a prominent woman in baseball throw out the first pitch. Chelsea Baker would be a good start. Kim Ng, Senior Vice-President for Baseball Operations with Major League Baseball, would be even better. The Rays, for example, could celebrate all women working in baseball in the area, from their own front office personnel to women at Minor League Baseball headquarters to women working for the local Minor League teams, such as Rachelle Madrigal, general manager of the Bradenton Marauders.

2) Copy the Mets. In 2014, the Mets hosted a Women's Baseball Clinic that included tutorials from coaches and players as well as invited women to take the field and practice drills with the team.

3) Have a seminar on Women in Baseball with Kim Ng, Madrigal, or perhaps Jessica Quiroli, author of Farm Life: Covering Minor League Baseball in the Digital Age and writer at many Minor League websites.

4) Have SunSports reporter Emily Austen provide color commentary for the game. Preferably with Kirsten Karbach, play-by-play announcer for the Clearwater Threshers and only woman doing play-by-play in professional baseball.

The goal should be to celebrate what women are doing in baseball. Raise their visibility. That is how you create and keep fans. By having people relate to others, inspire them, and want to follow in their footsteps.

Sure, some women only want to admire Kevin Kiermaier's dreamy features, but some do want to work in baseball. And there are many in between. Some might even think a player is cute, but still don't think he should be in the lineup versus lefties.

Any or all of the above options can be used to balance a full-spectrum marketing effort towards attracting women to baseball. Teams can do the above and still have a seminar or webpage or two for what designer shoes go best with a jersey. Because some women care about that.

That's ok. And let's not forget, there are without a doubt some men among the Rays fanbase who also think certain players are cute but shouldn't be in the lineup versus lefties. Or guys who want to look fashionable in their Rays jerseys and designer shoes.

The bottom line is baseball fans come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and sexual orientations and preferences.

Pigeonholing a demographic or their knowledge of the sport based on gender or creating promotions for them with sponsors who are not known for positive stereotypes is a horrible business practice.

A few weeks ago, the Rays proudly promoted that Rays Radio was being listened to by 50% more women. That's great news. But if they bungle marketing to these women, how soon until these fans turn the radio off?

(Disclaimer: I've met Jessica and other women referenced in this post. As well, a few years ago, I wrote a post ripping the Fox Sports Girls marketing effort. Glad that program is no longer a thing.)