Insights

Hats Off to the Yankees’ PR Team

By July 13, 2015 November 1st, 2022 No Comments

Love them or hate them,
the New York Yankees have a pretty quick PR team. While they are known for
cooking up some of the classiest campaigns for pinstripe pride, this one is
particularly great because it goes out to my favorite current Yankee, Brett
Gardner.

Gardner was one of five
contenders on the All-Star Final Vote ballot for the 2015 AL team. Earlier in
the week, fan voting had Gardner sitting in fourth place.

While the rest of the
clubhouse was adamant about gaining votes to move the outfielder up in the
ranks, Gardner himself wasn’t interested in self-promotion. Modest as they
come, he was just thankful for the opportunity to be in the running and recognized in general.

His humility and desire
for a low-key candidacy didn’t stop the rest of the team from going all out
though. The Bronx Bombers had their PR team whip up the #VoteGardy movement.

Of course, a great hashtag
is an excellent way to spread the word. But it’s neither new nor exciting. All
AL players in the running had their own hash tags: Xander Bogaert (#XforASG),
Yoenis Cespedes (#VoteYo), Brian Dozier (#VoteDozier), and Mike Moustakas
(#VoteMoose).

So what else? Signs are so
passé, painting the hashtag behind home plate was a nice touch, but what they
needed was a bald move.

Bald? Yes, bald. Like Gardner himself.

On Wednesday, teammates of
the noticeably bareheaded outfielder sported bald caps with #VoteGardy written
above the forehead. It was a playful way to get the conversation going about how
passionately the Yanks believe Gardner truly is an All-Star.

Just as the media was
picking up the scoop, Royals all-star left fielder Alex Gordon sustained an
injury during a game. As a last-minute replacement, Gardner was selected to the
All Star team and bypassed the voting.

So was the campaign
successful? In a way, it was. Although short-lived, the #VoteGardy bald caps
may have put Brett Gardner’s name front and center for American League
manager Ned Yost’s consideration. Gardner’s stats speak for
themselves, but this may have been the perfect timing for an extra reminder.

In
addition, although the Yankees are often criticized for buying their
championships and being a bit braggadocious, this campaign is as unpretentious
as they get. The team showed they could put aside their egos and get a little
silly (and admittedly slightly creepy looking) to highlight one of their most humble
stars. It was definitely a good play by the franchise.

We can’t be sure whether or not the bald caps
would have pushed Gardner up in the final vote standings. All we know is that Brett
Gardner will be playing in his first ever MLB all-star game next week, with his
team behind him 100 percent. Hair’s to
you, Brett.

~ Kristin Drabik, Account Coordinator, The S3 Agency

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