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Chicago White Sox PR Plan
- 2. “Mired in Mediocrity” - Rich Hahn, GM
- 7. Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Total 8,151,104 4,859,746 3,262,473 3,226,228 1,572,356 3,398,422 2,029,838 2,520,510 2,081,084 919,498 43,635 13,156 10,182 11,747 3,946 1,847,624 1,171,535 1,198,774 1,615,938 283,067 13,440,785 8,074,275 6,991,939 6,934,997 2,778,867 12th 17th 25th 20th 16th
- 10. Since 2006, attendance has been decreased on average by 6.9 percent annually, with a slight increase in 2015.
- 16. Can you sing? Do you have what it takes to sing the White Sox fight song? Then we need your help. At sixty years old, the “Let’s Go, Go-Go White Sox” needs a 21st century update. Send your submissions to our YouTube channel for a chance to win season tickets!!!
- 17. Chicago White Sox Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1 by Pink Floyd on The Wall
Editor's Notes
- On May 11 in 2017, the Chicago White Sox standings were at 15 – 17. Today, the Chicago White Sox standings is at 9 – 25, second to last in the entire MLB. Their home standing is 3 – 15, the worst start in franchise history. So, how do you get a fanbase ready for new Chicago White Sox?
- One of my favorite baseball podcasts to listen to is “Red Line Radio.” They have this one segment called “Do You Remember When the White Sox won the World Series?” where each other them talk about some of their favorite parts about the 2005 White Sox World Series. This segment is based off the idea that no one remembers when the White Sox had a winning season. In 2017, the Sox had a 4.14 percentage, the fourth lowest in fifty years and placed 27th in the MLB. But a losing season for the White Sox is not something new. In fact, when asked to describe his tenure as the White Sox general manager, Rick Hahn said “mired in mediocrity.” However, recent news has shown that the Chicago White Sox have one of the top farm systems in the MLB, with players like Michael Kopech and Eloy Jimenez joining in the coming years. With this news, The Sox have conducted a “scortched-earth rebuild” to create an organization that will produce long term results in the future instead of constantly fixing current problems.
- To create a PR plan, we first need to understand our audience. The White Sox are not going to become a beloved international team overnight, so this plan will focus on the Midwest, specifically in Chicago. We mainly want to reach the sports fans of Chicago, but we also want to reach a new demographic, Gen Y or Millennials. The tactics that will be used in this plan will mostly be digital and will easily catch on with the younger millennials.
- Here are the strengths an weaknesses that are currently being faced by the White Sox. The good news is the Sox have a strong fanbase in general terms, so outreach won’t be much of a problem. However, the Sox have the reputation of losing, which drives people away. The most important thing to keep in mind about this PR plan is to remind fans that we are looking to the future instead of what currently in front of us.
- One of the best opportunities that the White Sox have is their amount of views on YouTube. YouTube is definitely the most viewed route when it comes to social media platforms. They have the 7th largest amount of views on YouTube, even more than the Chicago Cubs. This is a platform that should be capitalized.
- **Note: This data was collected on May 21, 2018** Before creating a PR plan, I needed to conduct some research and see where the White Sox were when it came to their social media presence. After looking at all major verified social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube) for major Chicago sports teams (Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, Fire, Red Stars, Sky and Wolves), I found that the Chicago White Sox has the lowest social media presence of any major Chicago sports team. No only in the total amount of followers, but the Sox were the lowest on each platform. The White Sox Instagram, for example, was the 7th lowest in Chicago, being beaten by even the Chicago Fire and Red Stars. While 2.7 million followers is still an incredible amount of people, they are still far from the Chicago average of 6.5 million followers
- Of course, comparing the White Sox to other Chicago sports teams was like comparing apples to oranges. That’s why I did the same tactic with the entire MLB. After compiling all the information, I found that the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and the L.A. Dodgers had the strongest social media presence in the MLB. This order is based off the total fanbase. The White Sox came in below average on most social media platforms (12th on Facebook, 17th on Twitter, 25th on YouTube and 20th on Instagram). In total, the Sox are 16th in total fanbase. The PR campaign will attempt to strengthen the two lowest platforms, Instagram and YouTube.
- In April, the Dallas Business Journal published a survey rating each MLB team on a “fan score.” A fan score is found by taking the average attendance of a game and divide it by average wins per season, then divide by 100. The White Sox had the fourth lowest fan score in MLB, beating only Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics and Miami Marlins.
- In 2017, the White Sox had a total of 1,629,470 people attend home games, which comes up at the 3rd lowest attendance in the MLB. Several components affect a team’s attendance other than amount of wins, including ticket prices, weather, atmosphere, etc.
- Since the World Series Championship in 2005, the White Sox attendance has been steadily decreasing. On average, between 2006 and 2014, attendance went down by 6.9 percent annually. While there was a slight increase in 2015, the Sox are looking another attendance under two million. Also, on April 10, when the Tampa Bay Rays were playing the Chicago White Sox at home, there were under 1,000 people in Guaranteed Rate.
- From the research, it became clear what the goals of the PR campaign should accomplish: Increase the lowest social media platforms for the White Sox by 10 percent. The platforms are Instagram and YouTube, both relying on visual content. The PR campaign will utilize tactics to boost their followership. The reputation of the White Sox revolves around the idea of a losing season. As the Sox go through their rebuild, they’re going to have losing seasons. But eventually, the Sox are going to see winning seasons, and the organization needs to be ready for that. The third goal is long-term, since a 23 percent increase in one season is very large. This goal could be accomplished in the 2020 or even 2021 season (or sooner)!
- Revolution Brewing is a company that is very close with the Chicago White Sox and Chicago. All of Chicago has a connection to this local brewing company. They are most known for their can design, showing unique characters and a large color palette. As more and more millennials are turning 21, more people are turning to Revolution for their beer selection. This is a place where we would like to capitalize.
- For the 2019/2020 season, the first tactic that can be used by the White Sox is a beer can design from Revolution Brewing that emphasizes the rebuild. This mockup (created by Matthew Lusa) is a general design of what the can would look like. Part of The Roster, the beer line will introduce each player of the active roster with a unique beer can with a picture of the player, their number and a tailored name, such as Delmonico Ale. The phrase “There’s a Revolution Coming” will be on each of the cans as the slogan for the rebuild.
- The date of the unveiling will be a week before the MLB 2019/2020 season. The pitch will be sent out two weeks before the event and the press release will be sent out a week before. Both the pitch and the press release will mention the “scorched-earth rebuild” that inspired this beer line.
- Here is the example media list for the pitch and press release. The names in green would yield the best results since they have written about the Sox and Revolution Brewing before.
- The second tactic will be geared more toward the social media side of PR. The Chicago White Sox fight song “Let’s Go, Go-Go White Sox” is not as popular as the Chicago Cubs “Go Cubs Go.” This can be attributed to the fact that the White Sox fight song was written almost 60 years ago. It’s time for a revamp. We would be asking over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for local Chicago White Sox fans to create a “Let’s Go, Go-Go White Sox Remix.” The same lyrics, but a 21st century update. What works well with this tactic is that not only do you get your audience involved, but you hear what type of music style the fans would be interested in. The winner of the competition would get a prize, such as season tickets.
- The third tactic that will be unique to the White Sox organization is a verified Spotify account for both the organization and the top players. Spotify may seem an interesting platform for the Chicago White Sox or any MLB team to utilize, but there are opportunities to catch a new demographic. We know what Sox fans are listening to, so why not create playlists that tailor that information. James Shields, for example, would have three playlists: Workout, Pregame and Walkup. The Sox Spotify account would follow each player and have a playlist of Classic Chicago Rock songs.
- One of the biggest complaints when comparing the White Sox to the Cubs is the Sox don’t have Wrigleyville. In Wrigleyville, there are bars and places to eat right by the park. But what people don’t know is that the White Sox can tailgate. Tailgating is definitely a big tradition for the White Sox fans. Getting to the game a few hours early is common knowledge for the South Siders. The final tactic attempts to reward those tailgaters as “Guaranteed Tailgaters of the Game“.” At each home game, one group of tailgaters will be awarded with their face on the jumbotron and a prize. This should get people a. more motivated to come early and tailgate and b. be more enthusiastic about the team.
- Here is a mockup of what the jumbo tron would look like.
- It’s no surprise that the 2018 Chicago White Sox will not be winning the World Series. But it’s important to think long term about this process. None of the tactics will be an overnight success and result in a sold out Guaranteed Rate Field. But overtime, with these tactics implemented and observed, you’ll see a major difference in the feelings and emotions for the Chicago White Sox. The phrase “something’s happening on the South Side” will evoke a mysteriousness. Why are the Sox so confident, even after a losing season? What will happen next year? We need to continuously search for new ways to promote the White Sox, explore new tactics. If the White Sox are having a scorched-earth rebuild, so should the PR.
- Let’s Go White Sox!
- If you’d like more information about this presentation, or would like to contact me, please email me at joshualahey1995@gmail.com