Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 23, 2004
Not Since Charlie the Tuna

Here's the sort of added benefits winning can bring to a team. Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post pens this article about how the Marlins have become a marketing dream:


Once a joke of the sports world, the Florida Marlins -- a franchise synonymous with the terms "fire sale" and "dismantling" -- have blossomed into sports marketing darlings.

"Now it's cool to like the Marlins. It's cool to like what they stand for,'' said John Boggs, a San Diego-based marketing agent whose clients include McKeon, the National League's Manager of the Year.

After upsetting the New York Yankees in the World Series, the underdog, low-revenue Marlins stand for hope. And that message is being conveyed by representatives of two distant and different demographic targets.

"In Miami, you have a lot of retired people who can relate to Jack McKeon and are excited to see someone of his age be able to achieve what he can. Then you have the South Beach set who relate to young guys like Beckett and (Dontrelle) Willis,'' said Robert Tuchman, president of TSE Sports and Entertainment, a sports marketing company in New York.

"Except for New York, the whole nation fell in love with the Marlins for showing they can win with these youngsters. To have a manager that age and basically kids on the same team definitely increases their appeal, especially these days with the way the Yankees are gobbling up all the talent.''


Even MLB seems to realize they are on to something here:

"For the month of October, Josh Beckett captivated America. It's our job to keep the spotlight on Josh,'' said Jacqueline Parkes, an MLB senior vice president for marketing.

"He very much appeals to demographics we're trying to bring into the game, (ages) 18 to 38. What better way to attract them than have someone who looks very much like them? Josh is a very down-to-earth guy who is exceedingly talented on the field, and he's very relevant to target.''


One of the big complaints I've heard about MLB over the last decade or so is that they don't market the most important part of their product, their players. A big reason for that was labor strife. Maybe with that somewhat settled, MLB will do more to entice fans to come out and see the stars of the game, rather than just the concept of baseball. It looks like that's starting to happen.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:49 AM | Mechandising | TrackBack (2)