Winter Warm-up, Birdland Brunch, and Brews and O's

[UpstateNYfan]

11 hours ago, Going Underground said:

 

 

  

I wonder if I get paid to spread the message. Maybe Greg Bader can hire me in his marketing department. I can work with his son.

 

The Orioles’ message of patience continued to be preached during Saturday’s Winter Warm-Up. Mike Elias: “A huge part of our success is going to be you guys hanging in there, understanding the process and helping us spread this message around the city."

 

 

It appears the Warm Up event was put together rather hastily ….IMO, if they want fans to hang in and spread the message, they should have brought in players of the future, it would have been a win, win for the prospects to envision their future at CY and for fans to meet them and get excited. Seems the O's cheaped out. Poor PR move, if you are going to do something, do it right or not at all. Is the team going to ignore marketing until they have something to show? You need better marketing when the team is poor than when the team is good.

[atomic]

2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Other than the rain, it was kind of brilliant PR. 1,000 fans still showed up. They mellowed out the mood with a Christmas theme. Elias took questions and gave honest answers. We like NCAA pitching and we’re going to need patience. 

People think that we could’ve just ran the minor leaguers out there at fanfest, wouldn’t that be putting a lot of pressure and a unrealistic burden of expectations?  “Hey Brnovich, we just acquired you, but when will you be in the Orioles Rotation?”  

There weren’t 1000 people there.  Did you see any of the photos posted?

[atomic]

15 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Not sure how that's a highlight.

Well it sounds like it was other than the people who showed up early and got 10 blankets.

[Moose Milligan]

4 hours ago, UpstateNYfan said:

Classy.

But not wrong.  

Fine, he's got a weak arm.  Is that better?

[ShadySideJoe]

My first game in person was in May 1969, so I have been the Orioles longer then the new front office has walked on the earth. You don't have to tell the O's fans to hang in , they need to provide a team worth watching. The last two years have been the worst baseball I ever have watched, well this year my top them.  Baseball players need heart, not what the computer tells you.

[Spl51]

17 minutes ago, ShadySideJoe said:

My first game in person was in May 1969, so I have been the Orioles longer then the new front office has walked on the earth. You don't have to tell the O's fans to hang in , they need to provide a team worth watching. The last two years have been the worst baseball I ever have watched, well this year my top them.  Baseball players need heart, not what the computer tells you.

I feel like I've read this exact same comment 100 times, it's so predictable.

[Luke-OH]

23 minutes ago, ShadySideJoe said:

My first game in person was in May 1969, so I have been the Orioles longer then the new front office has walked on the earth. You don't have to tell the O's fans to hang in , they need to provide a team worth watching. The last two years have been the worst baseball I ever have watched, well this year my top them.  Baseball players need heart, not what the computer tells you.

I think tanking is more your enemy than the computer/analytics. 

[Carllamy]

I went to Winter Warmup. If you would like to see photos, I have put them on my Facebook timeline, just look for Carl Lamy with the avatar of the guy wearing the O's gear. I have also shared the album on the Orioles Hangout page on Facebook, so you can see them on either page.

I got there about 5 mins after the gates opened. Usually there is that long line around the building for Fanfest. For Winter Warmup, there was a giant, empty gate area. 

To be fair, it was raining. I'm sure a bunch of people didn't come because of that. Also, the wind started to pick up, so I left at 12:30. I have no idea how many people showed up after I left.

As far as totals, well, when I showed up there were boxes of sherpa blankets to be given out (I got one). Remember, they said the first 1,000 people would get one. When I left 1.5 hours later, there were still sherpa blanket boxes at the gate. But, there were also a few people at the ticket booths buying tickets, so they might have gotten to a thousand people.

Vendors were okay. I bought a preloaded E-Z Pass for my car. There weren't many. There were food trucks, but not a lot of them, either. Boog's was open. The whole event went from Gate A near Lot A, down Eutaw Street, and into the Statue area.

I got my picture take with Santa Bird. All the statues wore Santa hats. A quartet played Christmas tunes.

Sig Mejdel, Brandon Hyde and Mike Elias were game sitting under a small tent in the rain and taking questions from the really small crowd that was there, but they had speakers pointed at us, and the speakers on the warehouse behind us also carried them, so there was this echo that made them almost impossible to understand.

[SteveA]

Wow, from everything I have read by people who attended, it appears that the Orioles staged a second rate, minor league caliber event.   Not what you would expect a business valued over a billion dollars to put on in what could be its primary interaction with its customer base for the entire offseason.

Coming at a time when the current product on the field is at an all time low due to a strategic rebuild phase, and the customer base is at nearly a 3 decade low, this is extremely disappointing.

[atomic]

4 hours ago, Carllamy said:

I went to Winter Warmup. If you would like to see photos, I have put them on my Facebook timeline, just look for Carl Lamy with the avatar of the guy wearing the O's gear. I have also shared the album on the Orioles Hangout page on Facebook, so you can see them on either page.

I got there about 5 mins after the gates opened. Usually there is that long line around the building for Fanfest. For Winter Warmup, there was a giant, empty gate area. 

To be fair, it was raining. I'm sure a bunch of people didn't come because of that. Also, the wind started to pick up, so I left at 12:30. I have no idea how many people showed up after I left.

As far as totals, well, when I showed up there were boxes of sherpa blankets to be given out (I got one). Remember, they said the first 1,000 people would get one. When I left 1.5 hours later, there were still sherpa blanket boxes at the gate. But, there were also a few people at the ticket booths buying tickets, so they might have gotten to a thousand people.

Vendors were okay. I bought a preloaded E-Z Pass for my car. There weren't many. There were food trucks, but not a lot of them, either. Boog's was open. The whole event went from Gate A near Lot A, down Eutaw Street, and into the Statue area.

I got my picture take with Santa Bird. All the statues wore Santa hats. A quartet played Christmas tunes.

Sig Mejdel, Brandon Hyde and Mike Elias were game sitting under a small tent in the rain and taking questions from the really small crowd that was there, but they had speakers pointed at us, and the speakers on the warehouse behind us also carried them, so there was this echo that made them almost impossible to understand.

Thanks for the review and the photos.  The photo with Bird Santa looks cool.  

[atomic]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

Wow, from everything I have read by people who attended, it appears that the Orioles staged a second rate, minor league caliber event.   Not what you would expect a business valued over a billion dollars to put on in what could be its primary interaction with its customer base for the entire offseason.

Coming at a time when the current product on the field is at an all time low due to a strategic rebuild phase, and the customer base is at nearly a 3 decade low, this is extremely disappointing.

Sounds worse than minor league. 

[Going Underground]

They said they were going to do some really nice things besides Fanfest this year.So far for Birdland members to go to a studio to hear players call in.I know the spread for food is amazing but that is not interactions with the fans.Maybe interaction with your stomach.Also whatever that was yesterday  They still have time to do something next month but would have to start promoting it soon.Up and coming minor leaguers and former Orioles would be nice.But reporting for Spring Training is February 11th and after that the last game is on a Monday and regular season opens on a Thursday. Dont see how they can do anything then. I heard no game at the Naval Academy again even though they have promised one for three years.I think Mike is the right guy for the rebuild but other things seem to be done sloppy and cheaply.

 

I know they are going to do some interactions during the season but not the same as doing things before the spring. 

But go out and promote the team to your friends and others. It is your duty as Oriole fans.

[terpspe]

I went.  Showed up a few minutes before 11, I’d estimate about 200 there at that point.  Got a free blanket, enjoyed Santa Bird and the statues, got a DD card and some other freebies and saved a bundle in the team store and the Authentics store.  It was exactly as advertised.  Rain sucked... I don’t see how you can complain about a free event that was as advertised.  

[atomic]

28 minutes ago, terpspe said:

I went.  Showed up a few minutes before 11, I’d estimate about 200 there at that point.  Got a free blanket, enjoyed Santa Bird and the statues, got a DD card and some other freebies and saved a bundle in the team store and the Authentics store.  It was exactly as advertised.  Rain sucked... I don’t see how you can complain about a free event that was as advertised.  

It wasn't free. It was 5 dollars to get in.   I can complain as it replaced Fanfest and compared to previous event it was a disaster.

[Going Underground]

1 hour ago, terpspe said:

I went.  Showed up a few minutes before 11, I’d estimate about 200 there at that point.  Got a free blanket, enjoyed Santa Bird and the statues, got a DD card and some other freebies and saved a bundle in the team store and the Authentics store.  It was exactly as advertised.  Rain sucked... I don’t see how you can complain about a free event that was as advertised.  

Glad you enjoyed it.Not free  for non 2020 Birdland  members but coats are a good thing to donate.  I am just not sure what it accomplished. No former or current players or minor leaguers  Elias making the same speech for the seventh time this year. Maybe cleared out some inventory from the Oriole store.

 

What is a DD card?