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Major League Baseball (MLB) Creative Works Brand Strategy

These 5 baseball-inspired campaigns knock it out of the park – from Corona to the MLB

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By Audrey Kemp, LA Reporter

April 3, 2023 | 5 min read

Throughout the action-packed Opening Week of MLB 2023, fans have seen a myriad of campaigns ringing in the season. Below, we document five different ads that hit all the bases, from Upwork and Corona to the MLB itself.

angels pitcher

MLB knocks it out of the park with ‘Baseball is something else’ / Credit: MLB

5. Yankees baseman Anthony Rizzo trades cards of corporate players

Who says remote copywriting isn’t a sport? In the spirit of Major League Baseball (MLB) season, freelance job platform Upwork launched an ad that pokes fun at a classic American pastime: trading baseball cards.

In the spot, Anthony Rizzo of the New York Yankees trades cards with his manager Aaron Boone. Instead of representing baseball players, however, the cards represent top talent in the workplace – there’s a software engineer, a project manager and even a remote copywriter, reminding consumers of the strategy and skill behind every freelance job. The campaign began running across US regional sports networks on April 1.

4. MLB heralds its new rules

In the four days following the league’s Opening Day, baseball fans would notice something different about the game this time around. That’s due to the MLB instating several new rules; they include increasing the size of bases, implementing a strict pitch clock, limiting pickoffs and banning infield shifts.

Before these changes were seen on the field, MLB released a series of entertaining spots explaining to fans the new rule changes. In one ad, Cincinnati Reds’ Joey Votto discusses the shift ban on the field, while hinting at another change (the bigger bases).

3. Giants fan IamSu! tells baseball skeptics: ‘There’s nothing like it’

One day before Opening Day, the San Francisco Giants released a brand campaign with another Bay Area icon – IamSu! In the ad, ‘There’s nothing like it,’ the rapper addresses those who dismiss baseball as boring by reminding them what boring really looks like (spoiler: it’s watching paint dry).

Then, he introduces them to the San Francisco Giants fandom and the magic of the sport in general. The spot also introduces the Giants’ new slogan: ‘There’s nothing like it.’

2. Sech and Corona remix ‘Take me out to the ball game’ in Spanish

In celebration of baseball’s storied past with the Latino community, Corona tapped Latin music artist Sech to introduce a fresh, Spanish-language take on the ballpark classic, Take Me Out to the Ball Game – the song that famously plays during the seventh inning stretch at each game. The song debuted in MLB stadiums nationwide on Opening Day and throughout Opening Week.

1. MLB kicks off Opening Day with ‘Baseball is something else’

Who would know the joys of baseball better than Major League Baseball itself? On Opening Day, MLB released ‘Baseball is something else,’ a multichannel ad campaign comprising three commercial spots, an out-of-home activation in NYC’s Times Square and a print ad in The New York Times, each designed to galvanize the sport’s fanbase.

Set to an acapella version of The William Tell Overture, the hero spot includes touchstones of the baseball game experience, from observing the Star-Spangled Banner to watching snack vendors meander through rows of stadium seats.

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Major League Baseball (MLB) Creative Works Brand Strategy

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