When Sam Kennedy spoke at the MIT Sloan CMO Summit on Wednesday in Cambridge, MA, he realized quickly that he was preaching to the choir.
Not only were his comments received warmly, but his organization’s name — the Boston Red Sox — was the only one mentioned that day to receive spontaneous applause.
“See how hard it is to market the Red Sox,” joked Kennedy, the ball club’s vice president of sales and corporate partnerships.
But while the team has a deeply loyal fan base, Kennedy said the club does realize they need to work “to sustain the phenomenon that is Red Sox Nation.
Toward that end, a flurry of promotional activities are leading up to opening day. Several members of the team were made over this week for an episode of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” that will air in June, the players are in demand for interviews, numerous books about the once cursed franchise are hitting shelves and a movie about the team, “Fever Pitch,” will open in April.
“The business is indeed cyclical,” said Kennedy, a Brookline, MA native who joined the club in 2002 after a stint with the San Diego Padres.
He remembers a time when average attendance at a home game was in the 20,000 range. “That’s not acceptable in our business,” he said, especially considering that half of the club’s revenue comes from tickets.
Fenway Park’s current seating capacity is 33,871, the smallest in Major League Baseball. The team has sold out the last 145 home games since May 2003, and is on target to sell out the 2005 season.
“[Ticket] pricing probably gets more attention internally than whether to resign Pedro Martinez,” said Kennedy, noting that team holds a three week pricing summit, getting input from sales, marketing, IT, fans and employees.
The team has grown its revenue 54% since new ownership took over in 2002. That year, the team was sold for $660 million, with $40 million in assumed debt. Today, Forbes values the Red Sox at over $1 billion.
Because of the ballpark’s small size, tickets are in insanely high demand. Kennedy estimated there were approximately eight to nine buyers for every ticket, even though the team’s prices are the highest in the major leagues — nearly double that of the second highest, the team’s arch rivals, the New York Yankees.
The Red Sox’s annual advertising budget is “easy to track,” he said. “It’s $0.” Instead, the team chooses to promote the brand through corporate sponsors like Dunkin Donuts, the Sports Authority and Budweiser. Kennedy did joke that sometimes the team may be better off saving a dollar than earning one, as 34 cents of every dollar earned goes back to Major League Baseball.
The team holds quarterly focus groups to get feedback from fans. Baseball lovers of all stripes are invited, from season ticket holders to fans who only attend one game annually to those who have vowed never to set foot in Fenway Park again because the team traded Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs.
A new loyalty program for Red Sox Nation has attracted 35,000 members so far, and a Red Sox Kid Nation club is also doing well.
Network
