Cleveland Indians Snow Days: Opportunity Meets Brand Promise
On Friday, the Cleveland Indians celebrated something that no other Major League Baseball team could: "Snopening Day" at Progressive Field.
For the Tribe, Snow Days is a fun way to bring families downtown to the ballpark and make money during the offseason, as the park is transformed into a winter playground complete with a hockey rink, ice skating, tubing and more.
Last year, Snow Days' inaugural season brought about 50,000 fans to the ballpark, as well as other MLB teams scouting the concept for their own organizations.
Paul (@paulroetzer) and I were lucky enough to grab a sneak peek of Snow Days last week at media day. Following are key business and marketing takeaways.
Opportunity in the Offseason
“Do not look for the next opportunity. The one you have in your hand is the opportunity.”
—Paul Arden, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be
Cleveland winters don’t necessarily excite many people … Imagine the offseason for baseball fans, who are coming down from post-season and World Series excitement (or heartache), gearing up for spring training in Florida, and not expecting much from the team over the holidays.
Transforming your ballpark into a winter wonderland isn’t an idea sports strategists have rested their laurels on to date, but the Indians have used Snow Days to engage their fan base and generate revenue in the offseason.
At this year’s Midwest Social Media Summit, Curtis Danburg of the Indians spoke about the organization’s environment of continual innovation. “It’s not always what’s best, but what’s next,” he said. In other words, continual innovation is critical to the organization’s success.
For marketers and business-minded folk, continual innovation can be daunting. However, bold, unconventional ideas are necessary for success. See Paul’s post on the topic, Disrupt or Die: 6 Tips on Disruptive Innovation.
How exactly do you come up with the next big idea? The Tribe was one of the first teams to connect with its fan base using Twitter, will likely roll out more mobile technologies in the upcoming seasons, and was the first team to make a splash in the offseason with Snow Days.
How do the new ideas keep coming? I believe it’s because the organization is able to realize and take full advantage of the opportunities at hand. These opportunities resonate because they’re implemented with the organization’s brand values at the forefront.
Stay True to Your Brand’s Promise
It’s great to be innovative. However, it works for some organizations better than others because of alignment with overall brand values.
The Indians speak about a commitment to provide fans with fun, family-friendly experiences each time they come to the ballpark. Snow Days is another avenue for doing just that.
Here are a few of the lessons you can learn from the Tribe, which helped bring Snow Days to the forefront:
- Listen to your fans — whether they're your customers, Facebook community, a group of thought leaders committed to your cause or anyone else your organization cares about. Updates made to the Snow Days program were in direct response to fan feedback. For example, last year’s visitors wanted more warm-up areas; this year’s Snow Days has more warm-up areas.
- Deliver on promises through action. The Indians are committed to providing a fun, family-friendly experience. What is the overarching message you want to communicate to the people you care about most? Is there a way to let them experience it, rather than telling them about it?
- Think outside your organization; consider your industry and community. One of the notes Indians' president Mark Shapiro (@MarkShapiro) made in his address at Snow Days’ media day was that he hoped Snow Days would bring families downtown. Not only does this position the Indians as part of the community, but it promotes the city, builds partnerships and gives the fan base a greater cause to support.
Thanks to our friends across the street for welcoming the community into the ballpark this offseason, and for showing us true innovation in practice.
Jessica Donlon is a consultant at PR 20/20. Connect with Jessica on Twitter @JessicaDonlon.
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Image: Paul and I standing in front of Indian's mascot, Slider, as we check out the 2011 Indians Snow Days' media day. Image taken by Mark Szczepanik.
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