‘We know people are upset.’ How the Red Sox marketing machine plans to fill Fenway Park. – The Boston Globe

Those folks will still flock to Fenway Park to mingle in the stands and on the video boards at an expanding array of discount ticket offerings, theme nights, and cultural identity days.

And for the unhappy fans who have spent months bemoaning the vague gestures made by ownership and baseball operations to shrink the talent gap the team has with other AL East teams? The Red Sox will make some attempts at creating sizzle out of a young, superstar-light big-market team coming off its third last-place finish in four years.

But since they know puffery and lipstick won’t fool anyone, the team essentially acknowledges it hears the boo-birds, but is trying to tune them out.

“We know people are upset, and from a marketing standpoint, we are not here to change people’s attitudes from the offseason,” said Adam Grossman, the chief marketing officer for the Red Sox.

“We’re not going to talk them out of something that they feel. What we are going to do is continue to do the things that we know are important in terms of marketing the players, in terms of putting them in a position where fans know them on the field and off the field and create Fenway Park as an attraction – and also know that sometimes in the offseason those negative vibes do not always carry through on the field and to the end of the season.”

In what amounts to both an internal and external marketing effort, a social media clip posted by the team in late March featured audio from Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart’s spring training address to the Red Sox players and coaches.

Set against the backdrop of the Black Pumas’ driving “Rock and Roll” anthem and featuring a pianist playing in front of the Green Monster at night, Lockhart says:

“All of us learn to tune out the noise. Nobody outside can tell you whether you’re going to succeed or fail, that comes from within. Generally, people who could never even dream of doing what you guys do are totally able to tell you why you’re doing it wrong. Even before you’ve done it. Learn to tune out the noise.”

The team that lines up for introductions Tuesday features a roster that tilts heavily toward youth and, with the exception of Rafael Devers and a couple others, away from big, expensive names.

Again, this is something Grossman and the marketing team have to work with, not complain about.

“We’ve got to ‘go with the pitch,’ ” said Grossman. “I don’t know that it’s more difficult but it’s definitely different — I mean, we all know we’ve had superstar names who have come to Boston and not necessarily worked out.”

A Netflix documentary crew has been filming the team intensely since spring training. The final project won’t be ready this season.

Grossman expects it to be a “huge piece” of how the team will be marketed next year.

“Knowing what’s been shot and what people haven’t seen and are going to be able to see next year, we’re very excited,” he said.

The Red Sox spent a great deal of time at spring training recording material for assorted social media and in-stadium feeds. Younger players less known to fans are far more comfortable enhancing their brands with social media than their veteran teammates, and the team is encouraged by the increase in social media engagement.

The “good vibes” Grossman cites from spring training and the clubhouse early this season should begin to satisfy some in the wait-and-see segment of the marketplace.

“This is the youngest team we’ve ever marketed and that can be kind of cool and fun as well,” said Grossman. “Some of these players are new to the market, the fans are getting introduced to them and there’s an energy to that.”

When it comes to Fenway Park, energy is a different game.

“Fenway Park is part of the DNA of the organization,” said Grossman. “The highest form of engagement is buying a ticket to Fenway and that’s a goal. It’s the lifeblood of our business.”

Attendance for the Red Sox ticked up almost 50,000 last season from 2022 to 2.67 million. But over the last two years, the team has returned to the 2.65 to 2.8 million range it drew in the first four years of this ownership (2002 to 2005) before hitting 3 million-plus from 2008 to 2012.

The team is “a little bit behind” in overall ticket sales than it was at this point last year, said Grossman last Thursday.

On Friday, a Globe survey put a little bit of context to the lagging ticket sales.

There were still slightly more than 3,000 tickets remaining for the home opener late Friday afternoon, the survey revealed.

One week later, for the Tuesday evening game against the Cleveland Guardians, 13,545 tickets remained, or about 36 percent of Fenway Park’s capacity.

In addition to weather, said Grossman, “team performance has a huge impact but team performance is going to come back. When it comes back, we feel we are really well positioned because of other things we are doing and have done to maintain our sales — younger fans and a more diverse audience that will continue to grow as team performance gets better.

“We’re selling a lot of tickets. Not as many as we were, but we’re confident that we will still continue to sell as the team comes back.”

As of Friday, the team said it was ahead 73 percent compared to last year on ticket sales and 90 percent ahead on revenue for its theme nights and cultural and identity nights, evenings that feature freebies such as hats and bobbleheads.

Of its 81-game home slate, the team expects to hold 60 such events, eight more than last year and 19 more than 2022.

In addition to standards like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Pride nights, fans of Barbie, Bad Bunny, Hello Kitty, Noah Kahan, Jerry Garcia, One Piece, and those with Jewish and Puerto Rican heritage will have their day.

And there’s the club’s Student9 initiative, where students can get tickets starting at $9. More than 70,000 students are on that list. Last year, nearly 28,000 students bought more than 58,000 tickets over the span of 32 games.

Red Sox season-ticket holders and past ticket buyers have been receiving a flurry of emails this spring from the ballclub announcing discount ticket offerings.

There’s never one type of fan at any one time at Fenway Park, which also draws from a pool of American and international tourists who come to Boston in the summer.

“People who are baseball fans and are coming here physically to see [Brayan] Bello and [Nick] Pivetta and our pitching staff, that’s one group of people,” said Grossman. “We’re also embracing those that may want Fenway to just be a night out where they want to celebrate culture and identity.”

It takes all kinds.

When that attendance coincides with a team that wins more often than it loses and has a shot to host playoff games in October, marketing the Red Sox is not such a tall task.

“Marketing is about a relationship over time,” said Grossman. “All of this is something we are always building. We can never have enough fans.”

Globe correspondent Sam Robb O’Hagan contributed to this report.

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Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.