When the New York Mets clinched a playoff berth after a 100-win season in 2022, they faced a classic visibility challenge in America's most crowded media market.
While most brands rely on standard out-of-home placements, the Mets took a different approach. They connected with New Yorkers where they already were—on the subway system that 3.6 million people ride daily. This strategic shift from passive billboards to immersive transit media integrated the team into the city's daily rhythm.
Former Mets CMO Andy Goldberg shares how they transformed ordinary transit spaces into powerful cultural territory—creating immersive brand experiences that turned commuter pathways into playoff buzz.
Cutting through New York's attention battlefield
Playoff appearances demand cultural ownership, not just awareness. With only two weeks to execute, the Mets needed to stake their claim on New York City's attention.
"How do we create buzz around the Mets being in the playoffs? How do we show that New York City was the Mets town, not the Yankees town?" Goldberg says.
The constraints created a strategic pressure cooker:
- Two-week development window from concept to launch
- Competition with endless entertainment options for the same disposable income
- Cultural territory up for grabs during playoff season
- MLB's restrictive 200-mile marketing radius
The challenge wasn't simply about selling playoff tickets—those would move regardless. The real objective was transforming a playoff appearance into cultural currency that would resonate throughout the city and strengthen the team's position in New York's sports hierarchy.
The Subway strategy
Transit spaces transform passive viewers into immersed participants. Strategic dominance of these environments increase impressions, while also changing how people experience the city itself.
This approach leverages two powerful principles:
- Transit takeovers create complete brand immersion that traditional media can't match
- The right placements convert necessary infrastructure into branded experiences
Transit dominance is about ownership as much as it’s about visibility. When executed correctly, it makes your brand part of the city's cultural fabric, not just another advertising message.
Most media channels offer the ability to interrupt—transit media offers the opportunity to transform. The difference isn't semantic. It's fundamental to how the message registers with audiences.
Four steps that transform transit into team territory
Step 1: Tap Into Authentic Fan Sentiment
The campaign started with observation, not creation.
"It was an insight into this underlying thread that was happening... Met fans talking about 'these are our Mets, these are our guys,'" Goldberg explains.
The campaign name—"These Mets"—emerged directly from existing fan conversation. By amplifying authentic passion rather than manufacturing excitement, the message instantly resonated as legitimate.
It tapped into a fundamental truth: the most powerful marketing doesn't create new narratives—it identifies and amplifies existing sentiment that's already gaining momentum.
Step 2: Select Strategic High-Impact Transit Locations
Working with Giant Spoon, the team identified transit touchpoints that would create maximum cultural impact:
"The shuttle train is one of the few trains you can do a full indoor and outdoor wrap on.”
This technical insight became the strategic cornerstone, allowing complete control of both exterior and interior environments across:
- Times Square-Grand Central S Shuttle wrap (6 cars interior & exterior)
- #7 Line train wrap (5 cars exterior, plus interior units)
- Hudson Yards Station Domination
- Grand Central Station Dominations (lower level #7 line)
The 7 Line train was strategically chosen as it runs directly to Citi Field—converting the journey to the game into part of the playoff experience itself. Sure, it was media placement, but it was also experience design disguised as advertising.
Step 3: Create Immersive Environments, Not Just Advertisements
The campaign transformed necessary infrastructure into branded experiences, extending beyond mere visibility.
"We really wanted to own the city," Goldberg adds.
This meant the campaign turned transit spaces into Mets territory, effectively claiming cultural ownership within New York—particularly important for a team historically competing for the city's baseball identity.
The immersive environments created moments that registered as part of the city's cultural fabric, not just another ad campaign competing for attention. When media becomes part of the environment rather than an interruption of it, the message penetrates deeper and resonates longer.
Step 4: Execute with Speed Through Internal Capabilities
With minimal lead time, the Mets leveraged their internal team for faster execution than external partners could provide.
"That was mid-September, and had to be out there by the end of September."
This required tight collaboration between creative, media planning, and implementation teams—all aligned on objectives and timeline. The compressed timeframe created a forcing function that eliminated unnecessary layers of approval and kept the focus on high-impact execution.
Cultural ownership that extends beyond impressions
While the Mets' playoff run was brief, the campaign succeeded in its primary objective: establishing the Mets as New York's team during the 2022 playoffs.
"Social sentiment was probably the biggest following," Goldberg says.
The campaign demonstrated three principles for creating outsize cultural impact:
- Strategic media placement transforms necessary experiences, not interrupts them
- Concentrated dominance creates more impact than dispersed presence
- Authentic amplification of fan sentiment resonates more powerfully than manufactured messaging
The "These Mets" campaign extended beyond transit media alone. It included neighborhood bar watch parties, special events at Citi Field, and appearances by Mr. and Mrs. Met at NYC landmarks—creating a comprehensive city-wide cultural presence.
The framework established by this campaign continues to influence the organization's approach to cultural moments, proving that strategic media placement isn't just about reaching audiences—it's about leveraging spaces.
Transit Media That Works
Transit media creates outsize impact when it:
- Transforms necessary infrastructure into brand experiences
- Concentrates resources on strategic locations rather than dispersing across multiple channels
- Amplifies authentic audience sentiment rather than manufacturing new messaging
- Creates immersive environments that feel like part of the cultural experience, not interruptions
When done right, media delivers impressions, but more significantly, it claims cultural territory in ways traditional media can't match. It converts the ordinary commute into a branded moment that registers as part of the city's experience.
For brands facing compressed timelines, intense competition for attention, or the need to establish cultural ownership quickly, strategic transit takeovers offer a powerful shortcut to cultural relevance.
The Mets' tactical approach proves that media strategy isn't about impressions. It's about transforming everyday experiences in ways that make your brand part of the cultural conversation.
Yes, this isn't just media buying, but far bigger than that, its high impact brand awareness through strategic media planning.