MLB and Coca-Cola today
formally announced their multiyear partnership, and the deal will include a significant digital element. MLB President of Business & Media
Bob Bowman and Coca-Cola North America President
Sandy Douglas appeared today at Citi Field for the Mets’ season opener and said digital components such as a direct integration into MLB’s Ballpark mobile app and an active Coca-Cola presence on league social media accounts will be keys to the partnership. “They are like us an iconic brand, like us digitally focused, like us family oriented, and like us they are a daily event,” Bowman said. “This is a brand that wants to activate in baseball and not just be a brand around baseball.” The Ballpark integration will include Coca-Cola sponsored check-in deals, ticket upgrades and concession promotions at select ballparks.
Other specific activation plans were not disclosed, but the company plans a heavy presence for jewel events such as the All-Star Game and World Series. The deal for Coca-Cola also creates a more powerful combination with league rights and team-level rights to 18 clubs. “Clearly, teams and players are where the action is. But what MLB has done with some of the innovative digital products and marketing activation tools they’ve built allow us to take that to the next level,” Douglas said. Bowman is an active consumer personally of Diet Coke, and Douglas joked to him that with the deal now in place, “you’ll be able to put away the brown bag now” when drinking the beverage publicly.
