MLB Marketing....What Were They Thinking...

Did anyone else see how the umpires in last night's All-Star Game were wearing different colored wristbands (one yellow and one black -- Pittsburgh's colors). Are you kidding me? I understand you want to promote new products to a large audience, but making the umps wear wrist bands are a little much. If anyone really knows what the MO was with the wrist bands, let us know.

One has to give MLB create for always trying to think outside the box. Start in 1999 when they created the first All-Star Fanfest for fans before the All-Star Game. I may be incorrect here, but I thought they were the first League to create this type of event. Now all the Leagues have this type of event during their All-Star week festivities.

Move to the summer of 2002 when MLB negotiated a deal with the producers of Spiderman to put the logo of the movie on first and third bases during select games -- bad idea.

Move to 2005 when Chevy negotiated its three-year deal with MLB. The League and Chevy decided to create a "red carpet" parade before the All-Star Game where players would be driven around in Chevy's new line of cars. While there may have been some concern if the event could be pulled off, I have heard the event was considered a success -- they did the same parade this year. This type of "out of the box" event offers Chevy with some impressive branding opportunities at the local and national level. The car company hopes when people think of baseball, they will think of other American traditions like Chevy automoblies. You may have just thrown up a little in your mouth after reading that sentence, but to the average consumer -- this type of thinking just might work.