The Royals have new billboards on Interstate-35 South in K.C. showing recently acquired P James Shield on one and C Salvador Perez on the other, and the "dynamic between the dueling billboards flanking the freeway is catching a lot of eyeballs," according to Kevin Collison of the K.C. STAR. One billboard show Shields "in full release" as he throws the pitch, and the other has Perez "gloving a fastball that's ripping through the sign." The corner of the billboard with Perez "not only has the fabric removed, but the surface beneath it down to the frame." The "sharp interplay comes from the creative minds at Walz Tetrick Advertising" in Mission, Kan. This is the agency's "first year with the Royals' account, and the billboards are part of their new 'Come to Play' campaign for the team." Royals VP/Community Affairs & Publicity Toby Cook said, "We've never received this type of fan reaction from a billboard. ... We could have done a trail of flame or smoke or something similar. But we thought if we could take it to the next level we should actually mess up the vinyl, and then the next thing was take off the vinyl and show the structure behind it." Collison: "It works so well that many drivers believe the wind has damaged the sign. That is, before they catch on to the fastball’s power." Cook added, "We’ve gotten dozens and dozens of Tweets and Facebook posts. I’ve gotten calls saying, 'That’s a great sign on the billboard, but did you notice it was damaged?' It’s got people talking about baseball” (K.C. STAR, 2/15).
