Global Appeal: MLS Launching New Campaign To Attract More Fans

Blanco (l) And Beckham Will Be Among Players Featured In New MLS Ad Campaign

MLS this season will launch a new brand message to "motivate soccer fans to become MLS fans," according to Barry Janoff of BRANDWEEK. The slogan, "Football. Futbol. Soccer. MLS," is an effort to "build the league by becoming more intimate with fans and marketers." The message will be supported by TV, print and online efforts and represents a "radical departure from previous efforts in the soccer community, which traditionally sought to convert U.S. sports fans to soccer fans." SUM Exec VP Kathy Carter, whose company holds commercial rights to the MLS, said, "We have a huge soccer nation in the U.S. We want to reach out to them. We want to put texture behind what MLS means." Janoff notes the campaign, handled in-house in conjunction with SME, N.Y., "comes with the premise that MLS is 'the North American dialect of the world's game.'" Fire F Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Galaxy MF David Beckham will be among the players featured in the campaign, which will "give more weight to what fans and marketing partners bring to, and take away from, the game." The effort is "based on a two-year MLS study among consumers and marketers regarding soccer, sports and the league" (BRANDWEEK, 3/10 issue).