Major League Baseball Properties has teamed with Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios in a marketing partnership to support the release of the new Spider-Man 2 movie.
The focus of the deal will be a weekend of Spider-Man 2 events coordinated by the league and the 15 MLB clubs hosting home games over the June 11-13 weekend. The film itself is released on June 30.
The ball parks hosting the games will feature trailers for the movie on stadium video boards, carry branded signage and stage a range of promotional events in what will be one of the biggest examples of sport and films linking up in their marketing. There will even be ads for the film on bases.
Said Jacqueline Parkes, senior vice president of advertising and marketing for MLB: "The reason we embarked on this relationship with Sony (Columbia's parent company) and Spider-Man 2 is the fact that the brand equity of Spider-Man and Major League Baseball marry up perfectly. They both have huge generational appeal, Americana, so we've got good values."
The New York Yankees, however, were no so keen on the idea of logos on bases, and will remove them before the game starts.
MLB president Bob DuPuy, quoted on the league’s official website, does not believe it has a negative impact, however: “It doesn't detract from the game, it adds to the entertainment value of the game.
"We've been accused over the years of not marketing to young people. Spider-Man will be a popular movie across all demographics, and it was a natural fit. It's an effort to provide some modest entertainment and modest excitement and promotional giveaways in a way that doesn't detract at all. Logos on bases won't even be seen from ground-level cameras; it would take an overhead shot.
"I don't think this portends a significant trend to where promotional opportunities or advertising might be going with baseball. We went through a period, after a century of outfield signage, where we went 20 or 30 years with no outfield signage, and then gradually the outfield signage has come back. It adds a unique flavour and colour to each of our individual stadia, which are each unique in their own way.
"The TV eye signage (behind) the plate has become a regular feature of the game, but I don't think this particular promotion, which is again a confluence of the movie industry and baseball with its product, necessarily portends any trend or suggests what next step might be."
Major League Baseball is teaming up with one of Hollywood’s biggest super heroes for an innovative new marketing campaign - one of the biggest to marry movies and sport.
