This week the NY Mets gave us an example of what happens when you don’t understand the current media landscape. They fired Manager Willie Randolph on Monday night, and did it via press release at 3:15 am east coast time. The team was in Anaheim on the first day of a west coast trip. So, they made poor Willie fly all the away to So Cal, manage a game (he won) and fired him after the game. As I am sure you know by now the Mets have been getting killed in the media for this low rent move on a classy guy. They are spinning all kinds of stories such as they didn’t want to fire him on Father’s Day to they didn’t make up their mind until Monday. The sad truth is they actually thought that if they did it in the middle of the night it would lessen the news and press impact since it would be a day before the NY papers could jump on it. That was a questionable strategy in 1978 or 1988, but in 2008 it is beyond moronic. That “strategy” backfired and blew up in their face. They got beaten up on every available media platform for nearly three days – print, talk radio, blogs, sports web sites etc.
At the heart of this mistake is a lack of understanding of today’s media environment. It is always on, and always in search of content. The explosion of media platforms, brands and choices has eliminated the concept of “news cycles” as we knew them. On demand content and viral distribution have made traditional news cycles obsolete. In addition, the proliferation of media platforms has created a situation where any “hot” bit of content and news is blown out of all proportion. Many of these media outlets thrive on scandal and controversy. The search and hunger for edgy content seems insatiable. How else do you explain Lindsay Lohan’s mother and talentless sister getting a reality show. More shame for us native Long Islanders. Wasn’t Amy Fisher’s sex tape enough humiliation?
The media narrative ended up being about how clumsy, heartless and dumb the Mets management appears to be. The net result is the Mets did some real damage to their brand image, and maybe their bottom line too. We are in a new media world, and if you follow the old rules you are sure to get burned.
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June 23, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Chaka
Couldn’t agree more–I’m a lifelong Mets fan, and was really thrilled when they made history by making Randolph manager. Now they’ve made history again with this firing. The Mets are supposed to be the NY team with heart (vs. the corporate machine known as the Yankees). What a disappointment.
July 1, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Nicole
The Mets could have done themselves a favor and thought about how inboxes are organized and when media people check them. I know that I’d notice if I received an email at 3:15 in the morning versus right before people leave at 5pm. Media people are looking for news in the morning… reading their emails searching for the next topic. The Mets seemed to hand a pretty nicely packaged story to them. I know I read about the story on the news and I don’t read about or watch sports.
August 24, 2008 at 9:33 pm
New York Yankees
Wow, the Yankees are still a dynasty. They just need to reload.