Campaigns for Major League Baseball’s 2017 #OpeningDay are creatively dominated by ‘colours’, ‘caps, ‘cans’ and plenty of ‘cubs’ (‘Chicago Cubs’ that is).
Among our Favourite Five new MLB season campaigns, there is also a strong emphasis on youth: from the themes and media channels, to the tones and attitudes, the emphasis is on targeting millennials and kids.
While MLB is North America’s most historic pro sports league, it is also the best-attended: during last season, its 30 teams’ cumulative crowds topped 73m.
But despite racking up one of the best attended seasons in the history of the game, a key strand of the sport’s strategy is to seek out and sign up younger fans.
Unsurprisingly for the oldest and most traditional sport in the US – one that is part of the country’s culture and heritage – MLB’s television viewers are, on average, older than those of the other major US professional sports leagues.
But a co-ordinated programme spearheaded by the MLB and including its sponsors and suppliers, is already showing success in attracting younger fans: as explored in our MLB ’16 Review of last season’s year’s key rights holder, sponsor and sportsbiz marketing (exploring strategies, tactics, trends and all the stand-out campaigns).
From a focus on mobile devices and social platforms, to the choice of suppliers and sponsors – attracting younger fans is the league’s priority.
Take, for example, the league’s popular At Bat mobile application (offering video and audio game feeds, plus highlights and statistics). Total time on the app was up 33% to 10.4 billion minutes last season, but perhaps more important to the MLB than pure reach is the fact that the average age of those downloading the app is now 31.
Or consider the deal to replace long-term jersey partner Majestic Athletic with sportswear youth darling Under Armour. A key factor in choosing Under Armour was its ability to help MLB attract younger fans: because UA already has such strong connections with millennials.
‘A young brand was really important to us,’ says MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. ‘Under Armour is also at the cutting edge of performance and culture and, along with other alliances such as Fanatics, these are the kind of partners that were going to help us drive our business forward.’
Our Favourite Five campaigns for the new MLB Season are:
1: MLB > This Season On Baseball
2: Majestic > My Team My Colors
3: New Era > #CapsOn
4: Budweiser > Custom Cans
5: Red Bull > Sound Guy Prank
Links:
http://mlb.mlb.com
http://mlb.tv
http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/atbat
http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/attheballpark
http://mlb.com/clubhouse
http://mlb.mlb.com/bts
http://mlb.mlb.com/tickets
http://mlb.mlb.com/shop
http://youtube.com/MLB
http://facebook.com/mlb
http://instagram.com/mlb
http://twitter.com/mlb
http://pinterest.com/mlbofficial
http://mlb.tumblr.com
http://plus.google.com/+MLB
