Seeking more exposure to the kids and ’tween markets they crave, Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and their trading card licensees have signed a two-year marketing pact with the Cartoon Network.
The deal is centered on a low-seven-figure media buy underwritten by the three baseball-affiliated organizations that will net them about 280 ads on the Cartoon Network from now through mid-October. Cartoon Net produced about a half-dozen promo spots that combine some of MLB’s brightest stars with Cartoon Net’s animated heroes.
 |
| Thome and Jerry? The new promo spots mix ballplayers such as the Phillies’ Jim Thome with their favorite Cartoon Network stars. |
Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra professes his love for the game and for Bugs Bunny, because Bugs “once played all nine positions” in a cartoon game. Phillies first baseman Jim Thome says he’s a fan of Tom and Jerry, and of MLB, because when he went to his first game at Wrigley Field “it was heaven.”
Other MLB stars in the campaign are Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones and Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Beckett.
Already airing is a spot promoting MLB trading cards with Cartoon Network characters Ed, Edd and Eddy. The spots will also be shown in MLB stadiums.
Cartoon Net will do MLB interstitials and other programming, including a baseball-themed show for its “Cartoon Network Fridays” that will be shot in and around this week’s All-Star Game in Houston.
“This is all about getting baseball in front of kids in different, unexpected places and in new and meaningful ways,” said Jacqueline Parkes, MLB’s senior vice president of advertising and marketing. Parkes said MLB looked at all kid-oriented TV networks before selecting Cartoon Net.
Just as MLB and its players association are eager to rent Cartoon Network’s cachet of cool, so has the Turner-owned cable network long reached out to form official and unofficial alliances with sports properties, to borrow their relevance and star power.
For six years, it was the primary sponsor of a Winston Cup team that never cracked the top 30 in the point standings but always finished among the top teams in licensed merchandise sales.
For five years, Cartoon Net programmed against the Super Bowl by fashioning its own “Big Game,” pitting traditional rivals like Tweety vs. Sylvester, or Bugs against Daffy Duck.
With the NBA All-Star Game on Turner’s TNT the last two seasons, Cartoon Net has produced programming in and around that event. It has also run a touring grassroots “Smash Tennis” program with the ATP.
“Sports help us attract partners and audiences from beyond our traditional base,” said Kim McQuilken, a former NFL quarterback, now Cartoon Network’s executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Under the deal, Cartoon Net also gets print ads in the All-Star Game and World Series programs. MLB and Cartoon Net are exploring joint consumer products licensing opportunities.
