San Diego Padres Go for Uninventive Promotions

Imagine this: You're in a meeting with a potential client. The client wants a promotional campaign to drive revenue and leave as many lasting impressions as it can. You think for a while, and respond with this: "How about we do something kind of boring?"

Bet you haven't done that.

But, it's what the San Diego Padres are doing this upcoming season for their promotional schedule. Maybe it's that Padres owner Ron Fowler knows that he doesn't have to compete with any other sports teams in San Diego now that the Chargers moved up north. Fowler told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the team is "not going to be as edgy or creative" this season. The reason for this is that they want to go with tried-and-true giveaways that fans seemed to like years prior.

Gaslamp Ball, a Padres-focused blog, published a piece in January about how disappointing the upcoming season's promotional schedule was.

They've proven that they will not put any effort into any kind of marketing, branding or fan engagement because future wins will solve all of their problems. This is what happens when ownership and high level executives aren't interested in the other core responsibilities of being a Major League team.

This is literally a baseball fan complaining that winning isn't everything when it comes to running a team. As strange as it sounds, he's right. Fans don't just go to sporting events to see the team play. It's the whole atmosphere. Giveaways are part of it. Even die-hard fans still look forward to a fun item they can wear, put on their desks or display at home.

So, Padres, for the sake of your fans, you better start winning more, or at least throw more bobbleheads into the mix.

Did we *really* need a fifth fedora in 5 seasons? Again, they only look good on a) women and b) Bruno Mars. pic.twitter.com/7pDlkjMXb2

— Grumpy Friar (@grumpyfriar) January 25, 2017