Major League Baseball CMO Karin Timpone gives a glimpse into the future of the league’s marketing plans. The scene is set in two suites at Game 3 of the World Series in Philadelphia last November.
What's the deal?
In one suite sat some of baseball’s most outgoing rising stars—Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, budding TV personality Jazz Chisolm and Triston McKenzie, who wants to build a business empire like LeBron James—and celeb fans like Miles Teller, who clocks in a bit younger than the average celebrity TV broadcasts typically highlight during an MLB game.
In the other suite stood Timpone’s team (with various baseball personalities and celebrities like Roberto Clemente’s family, former Yankees manager Joe Torre, and celeb couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill), who is plotting the next generation of baseball marketing. Timpone has hired Wieden+Kennedy Portland as the league’s first creative agency of record in eight years. Timpone wants to drive loyalty as she’s rethinking fandom and how that impacts the way fans interact with the game of baseball.
The bottom line:
“We wanted the right partner to be able to work with us not only on filmed creative but across a variety of different things,” Timpone said. “And the work that you’re going to see unfold this season will definitely point to the breadth of the opportunity here.”
Read: Ad Age (subscription)
Newsletter: 03/16/23 issue
Anthony Caponiti / November 16, 2023
