MLB Ad Campaign Promotes Season As Long-Running Reality Show Featuring Young Stars

MLB has "developed a marketing campaign designed to underscore the you-couldn't-script-this-if-you-tried excitement that lies ahead as the new season gets underway," according to Anthony Crupi of AD AGE. Since going live in the run-up to Opening Day, the spot has "already aired 92 times" with the bulk of the initial buy finding its way to ESPN. The opening salvo of the "This Season on Baseball" initiative, a 60-second spot narrated by actor Walton Goggins, positions the MLB season "as if it's a long-running reality TV show, introducing multiple storylines and a cast of characters that includes some of baseball's hottest young talents." Among the players featured in the spot are Mets Ps Steven Matz, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey; Nationals RF Bryce Harper; Indians manager Terry Francona; and Cubs 3B Kris Bryant, 1B Anthony Rizzo, 2B Ben Zobrist and LF Kyle Schwarber. Two follow-ups, "Bryzzo Souvenir Company" and "Point Four," began a "more limited rotation last week." The new "Bryzzo" ad features a cameo Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, while "Point Four" is a "nod to the 0.4 seconds it takes a 95 mile-per-hour fastball to travel from the pitcher's hand to the pocket of the catcher's mitt." The campaign was developed by Anomaly, N.Y. (ADAGE.com, 4/10).