#VoteWrightNow campaign bumps David Wright into ASG starting line-up

From the first moment that Citi Field was announced as the venue for the 2013 MLB All-Star Game, there was one player that the Citi Field natives wanted to see start the game. That player is of course Mets’ third baseman David Wright. Wright is arguably the best Mets hitter of all-time, leading the team in many offensive categories, which is no small task for a team that has been around for over 50 years.

As of yesterday, Wright is the leading vote getter for National League third baseman. This is the first time Wright has held the lead since voting opened, but a better time than ever with only two weeks of voting left.

Wright trailed Giants’ third baseman Pablo Sandoval by over 150,000 votes when the last update was released. Now, Wright leads the Kung Fu Panda by almost 130,000 votes. So how did Wright take the lead over the slugger from San Francisco? San Francisco fans are the leading voters in the majors.They are the only team that has a player at each position as a top 5 vote-getter, and have proven to be the most dedicated and influential when it comes to online interactivity.

The more quarter million plus vote turnaround is greatly attributed to the Mets’ #VoteWrightNow campaign. Wright has put up better numbers than Sandoval, yet stilled trailed week after week. However, the Mets weren’t about to let a player with lower stats outshine their hometown hero, so they went to work on a campaign for David that quickly went viral.

The Mets reached out to whoever they could to help Wright get votes. Cougar Life, an online service that connects men with mature women, voted David Wright as their “cutest cub” so the Mets reached out to the site to try and get their large female fan base to #VoteWrightNow. However, after the Mets organization later decided not to team up with the slightly edgy site, Cougar Life shared their discontent for the sudden end to their business relationship. Nevertheless, David Wright’s name and the #VoteWrightNow hash tag still made their ways around the Cougar Life sites, getting him a ton of votes from females who find the 30-year-old Wright to be their dream man.

The Mets also made a partnership with Modell’s Sporting Goods, one of the most popular sporting goods stores in the country. The Mets organization and the Modell’s Sporting Goods Company introduced their #VoteWrightNow promotion, which gave customers 25 percent off their order if they provided proof that they voted for David Wright 25 times. This is an example of smart social media marketing by integrating Twitter and online voting into real life sales. Modell’s got people in their stores to take advantage of the deal, while also promoting their exclusive All-Star Game products, while the Mets got David the votes he needed to start the game. This strategy proved to be a huge win-win for both the Mets and Modell’s, and now David Wright is on pace to start the game.

The Mets also have some thanks to give to WFAN talk show hosts Boomer and Carton, who are promoting David Wright via their New York City buses. According to this morning’s show, votes from the David Wright All-Star buses have added 70,000 votes to Wright’s total. The Modell’s campaign added another 180,000, so Wright already has 250,000 votes going in for him this week, plus the number of everyday voters.

With Pablo Sandoval going on the disabled list this week, David Wright seems to be a lock at third base for the National League. Mets fans are definitely happy that Wright will represent them in the All-Star Game in their own stadium. He may be joined by pitcher Matt Harvey, who has become the breakout star of the Big Apple. National League team manager Bruce Bochy told Sirius XM that “whoever deserves to go, whoever deserves to start the game should get that.” Bochy followed that up by saying “but all things even, then I think you look at something like that – a guy that’s in his hometown pitching.” So, if Mets fans are lucky, they may get to see two of their players in the starting lineup come July 16^th.

The All-Star Game is just a few weeks away, and will definitely be a spectacle. I know if I had the money I would definitely pay to see baseball’s best take the field. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, so I’ll have to watch from home. Regardless, as a Mets fan I will continue to #VoteWrightNow to assure that come July 16^th, David Wright is on my TV screen starting at third base.

Wright passed Sandoval and now leads all NL third basemen in the 4th #ASG update. Keep voting to widen his lead! #VoteWrightNow

— New York Mets (@Mets) June 23, 2013