Major League Baseball’s Spring Training is under way and for fans of the Seattle Mariners that means the launch of the club’s much-loved and highly anticipated pre-season promotional spot series.
Each year the Mariners, in harness with local Seattle agency Copacino+Fujikado, roll out a series of wry, comic commercials – starring players from the team’s current roster – that all typically focus on personality and humour rather than on skills or on-field action.
The 2018 spot series, which were all shot on location at Spring Training in Peoria (Arizona), consists of five ads: Flip (featuring Ben Gamel and Kyle Seager),
Work-Related Injury (starring Nelson Cruz),
Art of the Frame (fronted by Mike Zunino, Félix Hernández, Dee Gordon, Jean Segura, and Mitch Haniger),
Big Maple (led by new player Ryon Healy, Nick Vincent and James Paxton)
and Mound Visit (featuring Robinson Canó).
The spots are highly anticipated every season: as illustrated by the club’s social promotion of the content pieces.
This year even saw the market’s major newspaper, The Seattle Times, ask readers to vote for their favorite films in a reader poll.
Currently, Flip is in first place with 42%, with Work-Related Injury in second spot with 22% of the votes cast thus far.
The commercials were created by the team’s long-time creative agency Copacino+Fujikado, with production by Blue Goose Productions of Mercer Island and the director was Ron Gross.
Comment:
The Seattle Mariners have been working with Seattle based creative agency Copacino+Fujikado for a committed 22 straight seasons – a rarity for any client/agency relationship in the modern era.
Perhaps it is this rights-holder/agency heritage and the understanding that comes with a long term relationship and a knowledge of the local market and fan base that makes these annual spots so popular.
Links:
Seattle Mariners
https://www.facebook.com/Mariners
https://www.instagram.com/mariners/
https://www.snapchat.com/add/mariners
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWWLs-O8JGYYcNea7AgumAA
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/marinersmlb/
Copacino+Fujikado
