Big buzz without big bucks: Take the 7 Line for an express lesson

It all Started with a T-Shirt…
Photo from Nynewsbuzz.com
 
Imagine your client is hell-bent on connecting with sports fans. Now, let’s make the hypothetical specific. They’re trying to hit Mets fans based in New York City. You counsel them that your dazzling PR team can deliver a branded message that will splash across all the area’s major dailies, land interviews on the top-rated radio stations, drive in-studio TV appearances – plus more social media buzz than you could shake an ineffectual Jason Bay stick at – in a matter of days. What if you then told that same fictional client this could all be achieved for the cost of a t-shirt, some elbow grease and a few days of smart social media interaction? After checking your vital signs, they might mutter something about it sounding too good to be true. Well, perhaps we should all take a lesson from Darren Meenan.
 
It would be safe to assume that only a small, socially-connected group of fanatical Mets fans (yours truly included) could have legitimately identified a blog called The 7 Line (or its proprietor Darren Meenan) as recently as one week ago. Today, thousands can make the connection. Over the past 48 hours, Meenan (a blogger and t-shirt designer) has seen his photo plastered across a two-page spread in the Daily News, spent time on the line with WFAN, CBS and 1010 WINS radio, graced the Internet on NBCSports.com, Yahoo! and Metsblog.com, and booked TV appearances with WPIX-TV and SNY. National and local sites are hustling to cover his story. How he did it offers valuable reminders for brand communicators of all shapes and sizes.
 
Cliffs Notes version:  Meenan did what great marketers always seek to do – capitalize on timely opportunities. Just as importantly, he took a chance. Sure, it was a small, calculated risk with little downside and tons of upside, but still a chance. He made some t-shirts. Meenan’s “Don’t Trade Reyes” t-shirt honed in on a conversation that was already rampant among baseball fans and media (whether the Mets might consider trading homegrown star Jose Reyes) and sought to capture the prevailing sentiment of Mets  backers (to keep him in Queens forever).
 
Next, Meenan took to the Web, utilizing his social media channels and leaning on fellow Mets digirazzi to spread the word about “Don’t Trade Reyes Night,” a grassroots effort that was part flash mob, part MeetUp and part wonderfully-orchestrated photo opportunity. The result: a perfectly-played stunt, scripted online and brought to bear offline on Shea Bridge at CitiField–complete with plenty of free SNY air time and a during-telecast plug.

Hundreds Gather on Shea Bridge
Photo from Split Second Susan
 
The Don’t Trade Reyes movement has only picked up steam since fueled by of Reyes’ stellar play and – one might argue – Meenan’s egalitarian “protest” and t-shirts. Sunday night (and into this morning) Meenan’s missive went from t-shirt to national news. ESPN’s cameras caught his sign during Sunday night’s nationally-televised Mets-Braves game, drawing the ire of Mets brass who objected to the URL on his sign. His misstep would spell Meenan’s dismissal from CitiField – and lots more media attention.

The past week may have seemed like a promotional freight train for the 7Line.com (and good for them). For PR professionals, it’s a valuable reminder of timeless tenets of successful campaigns – relevant content, timely execution and the ability to galvanize and mobilize influencers. Yet, it also illustrates how taking risks doesn’t need to mean big bucks and that those small, but bold moves can deliver big results. 

Oh, and one last thing…DON’T TRADE REYES!

Parting Can be Such Sweet…Success
Photo from Matthew Cerrone's Mets Blog