2011 Season, Business of Baseball, Matthias, Toronto Blue Jays

2011 Toronto Blue Jays Promos and Giveaways

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Another pitiful season of Toronto Blue Jays giveaways and promotions. Outside of opening day, the Jays are giving away only 50,000 promo units ALL season!

Giveaways

April 1st – Rally Towels (40,000)

Identity crisis! Rally Towels? 40K+ at the RC waving towels will make a great visual for the television highlights. That has to be the angle.

April 3rd, Jose Bautista Bobblehead (10,000)

Jose Bautista Bobblehead presented by Rogers Sportsnet.jpeg

The first of two Bobblehead giveaways. Although I’m disappointed with the number of Bobble giveaways this season, I do have to give the Jays promo staff credit for going all out and offering high quality representations. This Bobble features a great Jose smile and 54 on the base of the unit.

Once again, opening series vs the Twins. The front loaded aspect of this promotion must be in place drive fans to the park early in the season, hoping ‘the fever’ catches on. As with last seasons Bobblehead promotions, I wish they gave away more than 10,000 units.

Conversely, the Milwaukee Brewers are giving away a total of 6 Bobbleheads (with “all fans” listed as the per game quantity). Ontario’s own John Axford

John Axford Bobble Head.gif

Continuing on my off-topic rant, the Brewers are also running a promo that would be a perfect fit for a large demographic of Jays fans, Singles Night:

For only $40, get a Dew Deck ticket for the Brewers vs. Reds game on April 25 at 7:10 pm, which includes a pre-game buffet and two drinks per person, plus the opportunity to mix and mingle with Milwaukee-area singles!

Watch out for those drinks. What’s made Milwaukee famous….

[youtube u7OSxQ3uKU0]

Anyways, shifting back to Toronto’s promotions.

June 16th – Player Safety Baseball Cards (10,000)

I’d imagine that this promo is for Children only. A nice little giveaway for a Thursday night tilt against the Orioles.

July 1st – Canada Day T-shirt (10,000)

The Phillies come to town on Canada day. Good promo, horrible quantity.

July 31st – Roberto Alomar HOF Bobblehead (10,000)

roberto_alomar_bobblehead_giveaway.jpeg

Great giveaway. There will also be a hall of fame celebration, as the Jays honour Roberto Alomar. The Rangers come to town, giving fans a chance to see Josh Hamilton.

September 18th – T-Shirt (10,000)

Home Hardware sponsored t-shirt giveaway. A Sunday vs the Yankees. This is a prime example of questionable promotional schedule. Do the Jays really need any help drawing fans for a weekend game vs the Bronx Bombers? And how many of these T’s will be going to Yankees fans? This promo should be scheduled against the Royals or Tigers.

One Shots

A few one shot theme days are sprinkled throughout the season (80’s night, Mothers Day, Camp Day, etc)

Ongoing promotions (various dates)

Tweeting Tuesdays

jays-twitter-1.png

It’s back. Although I’m not sure why. Tweet to @bluejays for free crap during the game.

Fan Fridays

Essentially a sponsored tailgate with over priced food & drink.

Jr. Jays Saturdays

A Toronto institution. Free outdoor activities, running the bases, etc. And this season children 14 & under are 1/2 price in the 200 Outfield & all of the 500 level. Can’t hate on Jr. Jays.

That’s all folks

Another weak Toronto Blue Jays promotional schedule. What’s new?

Questions: Does anything excite you? What type of promotion would you like to see in Toronto?

Matthias Koster
Written By

has written for mopupduty.com since 2006. Follow Matthias on Twitter, Facebook and Google +

  • I’m liking the Alomar bobblehead quite a bit. 6 bobbleheads from Milwaukee?! That’s crazy and great. Agreed they need to step up the quantity of t-shirts on Canada day. Speaking of quantity, there’s also the quality factor. As an aside, when I was at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame I saw a few of the t-shirt giveaways from years past hanging on the walls. Despite being untouched for so many years, they looked like they were disintegrating and they likely have never been worn a single time. Perhaps the Jays are pumping $ into a quality t-shirt instead of 50,000 flimsy pieces of rubbish.

    I think the Jays do a similar singles night except it is a speed-dating theme. Word is Sam Cosentino scared all the ladies away last time. To be fair, I heard he just got out of a 6-year relationship. /Mikey

    Anyway. I’m still waiting on that Kelly Gruber bobblehead.

  • Ian

    I’m also a little surprised at the lack of giveaways again this year. It was expected last year what with the changing in the guard within the front office, but not sure why the giveaways are lacking again this year.

    I’m a self-professed bobblehead collector, so I’m really looking forward to those two nights. I think the D-Backs did something similar as the Brewers in giving away 6+ player bobbleheads throughout the season. That would be a great idea to do with the Blue Jays, but considering how often the roster changes, I can see why they would be adverse to that decision.

  • Dara

    By six year relationship, I suppose you mean his contract with the team.

  • Dara

    Ahhhh! Gotcha. He’s not going to be back this year. Perhaps the ladies won’t run for it.

  • MK

    I’m still pissed that despite getting to the park early I missed out on the Dave Stieb bobblehead last year. 10,00 is totally ridiculous. What ever happened to 20,000? I’m not going to even attempt Robbie Alomar day because of my bitter disappointment. Nice way kill enthusiasm, Rogers!

    However, I will give them props on the discount tickets on Jr. Jays. That’s the way to make it a regular family outing. If they always roll out a value menu for that day it’ll be a slam dunk.

    I am planning on going to 80s night, though. Watched that game last year and felt very sad that I missed it. Won’t make that mistake again!

  • I NEED THAT ROBBIE BOBBLEHEAD!

    Also, tweeting tuesdays is the worst.

  • SI

    How is it that all the good promos occur on a Sunday (including the year-end ‘Fan Appreciation Day’? Some of us can never get there on Sunday so how about sharing the give-away-days around a bit.

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  • I would be happy with any free stuff!
    It would be really cool to have the HOF Alomar Bobblehead though. He has always been a favorite of mine.

  • sadp

    “Outside of opening day, the Jays are giving away only 50,000 promo units ALL season!”

    This isn’t entirely accurate. If you’re counting the rally towels on opening day as “units” given away, then the rally towels they give away at every Friday home game (“Fan Fridays”) should also count, and they give away 10,000 at each.

    There’s also unannounced giveaways that aren’t on the schedule yet, like what they did last year with t-shirts for all the home runs (“Boom Town Bombers” I believe, or something equally bad sounding).

    “Questions: Does anything excite you? What type of promotion would you like to see in Toronto?”

    I’m excited to see live baseball again. I don’t care about giveaways.

  • Buck Bokai

    They’ve added “Italian Day” on June 12 (free hats) and Mr. Sub sportsbag day on Jul 3 (free sports bags).

  • mr.bean

    I agree very weak on the promotions this year. As of today they have yet to do any promotion for the Jays Kids Club. The website says to check back later. and has since September. The kid promotions help develop future fans, get them more interested in the team and going to the games. The team seems to be based on ‘baseball only’ but with the lack of kid events, fewer games on TV (unless you have a special package) and youth soccer taking kids away from baseball, the Jays don’t seem to be thinking much about their present or future ‘non die-hard’ fan base.

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