Random Thoughts: The Muppets Take Coney Island

Tonight the Brooklyn Cyclones had a very interesting promotion with the Muppets (yes, those Muppets).

The basic idea is that the Muppets have a recent movie that is coming out on DVD/BluRay next week, so they are promoting the film. And the Cyclones are a low level Minor League baseball team that has some promotion at every game. Lucky fans won copies of the yet-to-be-released DVD/BluRay combo pack of the Muppets Most Wanted. Some very very lucky fans got to meet the Muppets. And the scoreboard showed some very short taped sketches with the Muppets during a few of the inning breaks (baseball themed, like Kermit and Piggy introducing the kiss cam or Gonzo interviewing the star player about weird Gonzo-things). Aside from that, there was Muppet-themed scoreboard graphics and sound effects (namely Mahna Mahna playing when a fall ball went over the stands). They did play "Rainbow Connection" before the game and Sweetums threw out the first pitch.

But I left the game feeling somewhat disappointed in this event. Maybe because I spent over an hour in the car (and the balance of 2 hours with the trip home factored in) and easily $25 or $30 in tolls and parking combined just to get there (and back). The Brooklyn Cyclones ballpark is on Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY, which is not exactly around the corner from where I live in New Jersey (it measured at exactly 30 miles door-to-door). Maybe because I hear that the actual Muppets will be at the ballpark (their performers too) and I get it in my head that I need to bring something for them to sign because I get to meet the Muppets.

Let me look at it from 2 different angles.

Minor League Baseball
As a promotion for a Minor League Baseball game, having a theme and a giveaway for a well known brand is pretty cool. Heck, any giveaway that isn't a clown's nose (yes, that was a giveaway tonight too) or some Frisbee with a sponsor's logo on it is good. And having that actual brand be there, even if it was mostly hidden in taped video segments makes it that much better. It certainly brought out the die hard Muppet fans in the area (who, like me, probably had no real idea of what to expect so they all just showed up hoping for the best) that otherwise wouldn't have gone to the game. So it's a good promotion for a minor league club for sure.

The Muppets
The Muppets are a worldwide brand that has been around in this form for almost 40 years (and overall for almost 60). They have a motion picture that had a theatrical run earlier this year and the corresponding DVD/BluRay release next week. They are trying to promote it. But what does this promotion actually buy them? This is where I thought this promotion was not well put together. It's one thing to allow your brand for a theme at the ballpark (certainly no problems there) and even to give away copies of the DVD/BluRay (though I'm not real sure what it buys you). But having somewhat lame sketches (pre-recorded) and hiding the performers for a random lucky fan to meet and greet rather than letting them be out there with the crowd really wasn't what a minor league promotion should be about. And the Muppets certainly aren't minor league.

Update: I think I was working on this and falling asleep at the same time and left out a conclusion.
For a minor league baseball game, having the actual Muppets there was pretty cool, but having the actual Muppets there without really being able to see them was what left a taste of disappointment in my mouth. I wasn't one of the lucky fans to take home the DVD/BluRay disc, and that's okay. But the other stuff. The sketches were corny (they need better writers for these things) and they might as well have mailed in the effort if not for the super exclusive meet & greet they had somewhere.

Some pictures to illustrate the Muppet themes at the ballpark tonight: