MLB spending $10 million to try to get you to tune to postseason

• MLB thinks Tommy Lasorda dressed in a tuxedo will get people to care.

From Brandweek, 9/29/06 "The campaign theme, "Real fans don't hide in October. They celebrate it!" was created by McCann Erickson in New York. It includes three TV spots, print, radio ads and MLB's most "extensive postseason online media buy," according to a league official. MLB put the ad spend at $10 million. That includes 12 percent devoted to the online element, about $1.2 million. TV will run through October during games on Fox and ESPN, as well during sports and entertainment programming on cable networks. The print buy includes Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Baseball America. Radio includes ESPN and XM Satellite. AOL, the New York Times Web site and various sports destinations are among the Internet placements. In the spots, Lasorda, who has been with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for almost 60 years, managed the U.S. Olympic Baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics and was recently appointed the official ambassador of the World Baseball Classic, travels to different MLB cities wearing a tuxedo and using "tough love" to help despondent fans whose favorite teams are not in the playoffs. In Chicago, for example, he finds a Cubs fan who has climbed a tree and won't come down. Lasorda tells him even though the Cubs won't win the World Series, "It's October. You're a baseball fan. Watch the games!" Lasorda also quotes MLB's ongoing tag, with his own twist: "I live for this! You live for this! The world lives for this! To the TV!" The campaign also will direct people to MLB.com, which is adding "Tommy pages" that will include a blog with Lasorda and condolence cards that can be sent to fans whose teams have been eliminated." Article from Brandweek by Barry Janoff

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