The Twins last week released a TV ad that will air through Spring Training into the regular season in which team execs "not only acknowledged their struggles, they were brutally honest about them," according to Mark Townsend of YAHOO SPORTS. A boy in the ad states, "Even though the Twins have been stinkier than my socks the last few years, they’re still my team." Townsend wrote the ad is "to the point," and "most importantly, it’s accurate." But it also "sets the stage for a more uplifting message about sticking with your favorite team through the good times and the bad times" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/23).
AMUSING A's: A's Senior Dir of Marketing Troy Smith last week discussed the team's fifth season of the "Green Collar Baseball" marketing campaign. CSN Bay Area's Jim Kozimor said the ads are "always fun and funny." Smith said of getting the players to cooperate and be involved in the on-air spots, "We have a long history of funny spots and they've seen them. We show them old spots so they have an idea of what we're going for: Put them in funny situations but try to be authentic and something easy for them." Smith said the marketing staff will "start brainstorming when there's a great moment" in a game to use in a one of the spots but "really, it's in the fall, before the year turns over. We start thinking about who we want to use, what are the themes and what are their personalities like because we always try to be true to their personalities." The marketing team will "try to be sensitive" to the coaches and managers, who are attempting to prepare the team for the season -- but "they're such good sports. They are willing to do just about anything we ask them to do" ("Yahoo Sorts Talk Live," CSN Bay Area, 3/20).
