Cal notes: Giants' splashiest promo turns 20

After a certain point, Minor League teams figure out what promotions bring out their fan bases year after year. For the San Jose Giants, there's one you wouldn't necessarily expect.
"Every year, we know we're going to have three really big nights: Opening Day, the Fourth of July and Water Awareness Night," senior vice president of communications and chief marketing officer Juliana Paoli said. "It's one of the biggest nights of our entire year."

The Giants hosted the 20th iteration of the annual promo on Friday, drawing a crowd of 2,875 to check out interactive displays, games and giveaways presented by the city's water utility -- the San Jose Water Company -- and the club.
Bob Day, San Jose Water manager and a 26-year employee of the company, is more than a fan and business partner to the Giants. Over the years, the Days have been a host family for players, including Ty Blach for all of 2013. Madison Bumgarner was assigned to them in 2009 but was promoted to Double-A Connecticut before he got the chance to move in. Given Day's passion for baseball, it's no surprise he's been the main figure behind Water Awareness Night at Municipal Stadium.
But the promotion has evolved quite a bit since the inaugural one in 1998.
"For the first four years, it was a friends and families of employees type thing," Day said. "In 2002, I said, 'You know what, let's involve our customers. Let's invite all of our customers to join us at a ballgame.'"
From 2016: California clubs trying to weather drought
The utility begins advertising in a billing insert and on its website about 10 weeks before the event, and customers can request complimentary tickets through the company's customer services department. Once they arrive at the park, fans get water conservation tips through creative and engaging presentations and activities. In past years, kids have loved scoping out a huge water repair crew truck and learning how it works.
For people in San Jose, like the rest of California, water is a big deal. After a prolonged historic drought, the most recent winter was the wettest on record in some parts of the state. In February, flooding in San Jose forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and did more than $70 million in property damage. (The Giants participated in fundraising efforts, sent clothing to those in need and arranged an appearance by their mascot, Gigante, at a local shelter. They also continued fundraising efforts at their home opener.)
"In our community, we've seen the importance of water awareness through the drought and now with floods in our area. It definitely changes, but it's always an important issue," Paoli said. "[It's been crucial] having such a strong partner we can go to -- and we always have gone to them about what should we be doing [with water usage at the ballpark] -- and in making our community aware of what we all can do to conserve water at home or in our businesses, whether we're in drought or not. It's really a remarkable means they have to teach our community how to conserve water."

At some point, Water Awareness Night may have simply meant a free ticket for some fans, but it's become much more than that.
"I think it's something our community looks forward to," Paoli said. "Our whole community does business with San Jose Water. It's something that caters to our community. It isn't the traditional wacky promo -- it isn't Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Night or Nickelodeon Night -- it's about our community and the San Jose Water Company and how they care about the community and their customers and educating us in water issues."
In her 12 seasons with the Giants, she's seen the event's popularity boom.
"It's gotten so large that one year we had to close the gates. We had so many people there was just no more room in the ballpark to get any more people in," she said. "The next year, we stretched it out to Water Awareness Weekend, but we got feedback that people really missed seeing all their friends and neighbors there, so we went back to one day, as packed as possible."
And Day, who was recognized as the team's Alliance Credit Union Hometown Hero on Friday, sees the promo making an impact.
"It's been one of the highlights of my career to see this thing grow," he said. "What has occurred is that it's become an institution at the Water Company and, I think, with the San Jose Giants. It's foremost in people's minds, so when they hear 'Water Awareness Night,' it's in their brain a little bit. It helps them be cognizant of the need to take care of this resource and use it efficiently.
"It's probably done more than anything else [the Water Company has done] as a way to connect with customers in a fabulous environment that's family-friendly and very community-oriented."

In brief

All wet: At 16-26 through 42 games, the Giants are off to the league's worst start. Paoli noted that the club won the championship the year of the first Water Awareness Night and hoped the 20th version would help San Jose turn around its season.
Not flying solo: It'd be hard to miss the impact top Rockies prospectBrendan Rodgers has made with the JetHawks -- he batted .380 with 15 extra-base hits through 22 games. But he was hardly the only one who gave Lancaster the top team average in the league (.302) through Friday. Yonathan Daza led the loop with a .361 mark and Sam Hilliard was second at .349.
Go West, Biz Man: Four Cal League teams recently hosted MiLB.com's own Benjamin Hill, the man, myth and legend behind Ben's Biz Blog. Among the discoveries Hill made on the West Coast: the perfect method for scoring an autograph at a Lake Elsinore Storm game.