Ahead of MLB Opening Day, the Minnesota Twins dropped a new 360-degree team campaign called ‘The Underestimated’ across TV, social, digital, outdoor and in-stadium which will run ahead of and in-game through the season and which provides the team with an energetic, dynamic and even defiant voice.
The new season marketing, conceived and executed by multidisciplinary creative studio Los York, reinforces the Twins’ mission to innovate, disrupt the norm and inspire the club’s fan base at the start of the new season.
The strategy is to defy Minnesota’s reputation as a second-tier market and/or a flyover state: the aim is to change outsider misconceptions about the Midwest by challenging them to ‘underestimate us at your own risk’.
“This year we set out to make people sit up and take notice – and this fast, vibrant, engaging approach is sure to energize our fans,” explained Minnesota Twins Executive Vice President, Brand Strategy and Growth Joe Pohlad.
The creative saw the agency work with the team via inventive ways to meet and manage the challenges of pandemic-driven lockdown limitations in order to create a campaign led by dramatic portraits of the players which act as the creative backdrop a ‘post-modern 8-bit’ design language.
“We assembled an international team of designers and creatives to tackle the brief,” said Los York Creative Director Scott Hidinger. “Bringing together people with knowledge of baseball with others who had very limited knowledge, allowed us to maintain a level of respect for the game, while simultaneously blowing it up.”
“It takes brave partners to go against what’s expected,” added Los York Founder and Director Seth Epstein. “Bringing ideas to life like this one, with its disruptive attitude, is what we love doing the most. The Twins are a fantastic partner to work with and we look forward to our continued creative collaboration.”
Comment:
This is certainly an energetic campaign from the Twins and Los York – an award-winning creative hybrid which claims to specialise in working with partners who ‘want to set the tone for/to change culture.
Like many other US sports franchises, the Twins also rolled out a ‘Know Before You Go’ and ‘Get Vaccinated’ instructional PSA style campaigns for fans returning to Target Field now that the stadium was opened again following the pandemic lockdown.
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