The nearly 10,000 in attendance didn’t seem to mind not having brands step over DJ Blast’s mix or their time on the big screen, and the companies involved took a lesson in how to step up while also stepping back.
It would be the last ounce of restraint MLB partners would need to display.
Taking the field
MLB sponsors get their own first pitch during All-Star Week.
Saturday morning—on a small, wood-fabricated, turf-topped baseball diamond in the middle of CapitalOne’s Play Ball Park and its field of logo-laden marketing experiences—Seattle Mariners Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez, former Mariners Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez, Mariners Chairman John Stanton, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and numerous MLB mascots gathered to kick off the week’s events. The National Anthem was sung, the first pitch was thrown, “play ball” was yelled, pictures were snapped and the marketers and their booth attendants were released upon an unsuspecting fandom—with CapitalOne members getting early access.
MLB’s partners don’t just want to be present at All-Star Week: They want their presence drilled into your psyche (and your photo stream) long after the last pitch is thrown. Whether it’s the Washington State Lottery selling tickets out of a cart or Pete & Gerry’s handing out baseball-patterned foam stress eggs for you to squeeze as you stroll the grounds, All-Star brands want fans to leave with more of an impression than they had before they arrived.
T-Mobile set up charging stations and a mobile store, but also made custom phone cases from fans’ own designs. Ticket reseller SeatGeek turned a shipping container into a wood-paneled basement with a tube television, a Nintendo 64, various pieces of ‘80s and ‘90s baseball memorabilia and QR codes for a chance to win World Series tickets—though even losers left with free ceramic coasters. Topps let fans take pictures in a baseball-card frame while giving away free packs of cards.
Mastercard set up a Food Truck Row to show off its Tap to Pay on iPhone collaboration with Apple. Fans tapped their payment of choice to the smartphones of Seattle businesses including Off the Rez, Where Ya At Matt, MexiCuban, and vegan doughnut cart Dough Joy, where owners Sean Willis and Christopher Ballard offered their Vanilla Biscoff as the doughnut to have if you’re having only one.