MUST SEE: Keith Olbermann Declares Twins Marketing Dept World's Worst In Sports

[Parker Hageman]

A few days ago the Minnesota Twins sent ticket buyers an emailed survey to find out more about their potential customer base.

 

The survey, however, was slightly biased and skewed in reality. One question in particular asked what kind of car would the Twins brand be, most of which were either sports cars (like a Dodge Viper) or high-end luxury vehicles (BMW or Mercedes). Recognizing the absurdity that is associating these automobiles with a team that is on-track to finish with their 4th consecutive 90-loss season, NBC's Keith Olbermann reacts accordingly:

 

KEITH OLBERMANN -- MINNESOTA TWINS MARKETING DEPT IS WORLD'S WORST IN SPORTS

[Monkeypaws]

If the Twins are a Yugo, what does that make the Astros? Or the Indians? 

[tobi0040]

I think thinking Bentley but I did not see that one.  Extravagent.  Nothing but the best.

[JB_Iowa]

That really was a "Must See".

 

And to think, they have a marketing person as their Team President.

 

Good grief, Mr. Pohlad ..... it just gets worse and worse.

[Brock Beauchamp]

If the Twins are a Yugo, what does that make the Astros?

A broken down scooter.

[drjim]

If the Twins are a Yugo, what does that make the Astros? Or the Indians? 

 

Smart enough not to ask a question like this?

[D. Hocking]

The Twins are a timely classic that knows how to drive the right way.http://bransonticket.com/sites/bransonticket.com/files/ralph-foster-museum.jpg

[James]

Really was a must watch.  He pretty much nailed it though.

 

Yeah, the Twins really need help in the marketing department.  

[Winston Smith]

The really sad thing now is the Astros have the same number of wins as the Twins.

 

Getting harder and harder to find teams to look down on.

[Mike Sixel]

I've never been impressed with Twins marketing, this doesn't really surprise me at all. Not even a little.

[TheLeviathan]

The Twins ran a pretty good ship back in 2000 in terms of marketing locally, but the car thing is just dumb.  It's something I'd expect a lazy kid in high school to submit because they think it's cool and different but it's really just thoughtless and lame.

[drjim]

I took my cheap shot but criticizing the marketing of the team seems a little unfair - only so many ways to put pearls on the pig of the last four years.

 

I also think Olbermann using the standard of not winning the WS since 1991 as proof the franchise is in the dumps is a little disingenuous. That puts the team in the exclusive company of 2/3 of mlb franchises to not accomplish that feat. I would focus moreso on the record the past 4 seasons. 

[bird]

Funny stuff. And who could give you  better buy signal on the Twins than Sweet Keith just did? Fairness has never been a strong suit for that acerbic, mean-spirited cheap shot artist. But he IS funny sometimes. If Olbermann was a car, it would have been driven in the Mad Max movie.

[Kwak]

I wonder if we will read that the FO is being "restructured" to better serve the "fans"?

[Danchat]

What about the Cubs? They haven't won the World Series in over 100 years, so what does that make them?

[JB_Iowa]

What about the Cubs? They haven't won the World Series in over 100 years, so what does that make them?

 

A mule train?

[Mike Sixel]

This is a comedy bit about something that happened that day in sports, right? Not some complex analysis of various teams or marketing departments, right?

[Boom Boom]

This is a comedy bit about something that happened that day in sports, right? Not some complex analysis of various teams or marketing departments, right?

 

Olbermann picks a "World's Worst in Sports" on every show.  There's also a runner-up, and a 3rd place, and they're not typically related to each other except for that it's a sports story that happened in the last couple days.

 

So no, he didn't go down the line of marketing departments and find the Twins to have the worst - he gave them the World's Worst prize for the day for the marketing survey.

[tobi0040]

The really sad thing now is the Astros have the same number of wins as the Twins.

 

Getting harder and harder to find teams to look down on.

 

The sad part is the approach.  They haven't signed the veterans blocking prospects.  They have an extremely young team.  So it would seem they are setting themselves up better AND winning at the same rate.

[Mike Sixel]

I knew that......but others' reactions seem to indicate otherwise for them. If I misunderstood their comments, apologies. 

[twinsfan34]

Ironically, Olbermann just made the Twins marketing that much better.

[ashbury]

The poll would have been annoying to me, had it been offered, because it looks like a Push Poll - where the purpose is not to collect opinions honestly, but to plant a seed by putting the Twins alongside products with a positive image.  Hardly different in nature than the negative push polls seen at election time.  "If you knew that [Candidate X] had fathered a child out of wedlock last year, would you still vote for him?"

 

Inept, in other words.

[Craig Arko]

On the other hand, at least they're not moving to Canada, like the subject of this little piece of advertising lore.

 

[JB_Iowa]

Dave St. Peter responds:  http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2014/09/04/twins-president-responds-keith-olbermann-bit-tone-deaf-get/

 

 

I'm going to heed my mother's advice not to say anything if you can't say something nice.

[JeffReboulet]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=bNbb39Q7NbUhttp://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=bNbb39Q7Nbhttp://youtu.be/bNbb39Q7NbU

 

(sorry for the poor formatting, I'm on my phone)

 

Dave St. Peter made the "worst persons" list on Thursday night, albeit only in third place.

 

I actually like Olbermann's commentary more on this one...somehow it sounds vaguely familiar, as if I've read on TD recently. :-)

 

St. Peter's initial response was really overly defensive and didn't do him or the Twins any favors. Maybe he's reevaluated his position, as his response to this segment was something along the lines of "Thanks, I'm honored, love the show."

[ashbury]

I actually like Olbermann's commentary more on this one...somehow it sounds vaguely familiar, as if I've read on TD recently. :-)

Olbermann used to post at TD under an alias, until a moderator got fed up and banned him. 

_{^{/ I'm kidding... as far as I know}}

 

I saw Dave St Peter's later comments, to the effect that such marketing survey questions (among hundreds they use) are standard across a bunch of industries.  It somewhat alters my opinion: instead of "inept" I now think "cynical".  It's still push polling.  "If you knew that [Candidate X] gave millions annually to charities for widows and orphans, would you consider voting for him?"

[tobi0040]

The Twins FO should worry less about their perception, spinning poor results, and more about fielding a better team led by a competent manager.

 

Examples:

 

The rotation has been bottom 3 for three yeras in a row

 

Our manager believes our lineup, which has produced the 5th most runs "needs to take pressure off our pitchers". 

 

Fix these issues and the people talking bad about you part will take care of itself.

[drjim]

The Twins FO should worry less about their perception, spinning poor results, and more about fielding a better team led by a competent manager.

 

Examples:

 

The rotation has been bottom 3 for three yeras in a row

 

Our manager believes our lineup, which has produced the 5th most runs "needs to take pressure off our pitchers". 

 

Fix these issues and the people talking bad about you part will take care of itself.

 

They should be able to do both. It's a big organization.

 

Getting in a pissing match with Olbermann is probably not a good idea, so hopefully they shut up.

[Willihammer]

You do wonder how long the Twins are going to ride the "6 division titles in 9 years" line. Cherry picking. Are we supposed to forget the 4+ years of utter futility on either end of that stretch?

[tobi0040]

They should be able to do both. It's a big organization.

 

Getting in a pissing match with Olbermann is probably not a good idea, so hopefully they shut up.

 

They should be able to do both and they should drop responding to Olbermann.  I agree.

 

But it seems like executives of the Twins do have more PR experience than they do player experience.  Bill Smith was not a player evaluator.  He was an operational guy.

 

Assistant GM and acting GM when Ryan was out, Rob Antony.  The Twins site lists him as:

 

Baseball operations from 1995 to 2007.  Media Relations 1988 to 1995.  Seems like a red flag to me that the last GM and potentially the next GM have no experience in what they would be asked to do. 

 

http://m.twins.mlb.com/news/article/66054352/twins-announce-front-office-promotions