(3/2/20 – Syracuse, N.Y.) ABC and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum have created a campaign to help all visitors enjoy the ultimate museum experience, regardless of their fan status.
The Starting Nine is essentially a scavenger hunt built for the baseball fans and non-fans alike. The museum’s curators carefully selected nine items from each Major League Baseball team from a collection of more than 40,000 artifacts. The Starting Nine is a challenge to comb the museum for your team’s pieces.
It all started with the name with the goal of capturing the concept with a nod to the common language in the sport, thus the Starting Nine was born. ABC then created a logo for the campaign before moving on to website design and development of the campaign’s hub and all 30 team pages. All written content was produced by ABC, which had a mission to tell the story – to allow readers to immerse themselves and want to experience the Starting Nine first-hand.
When they get to the Museum, the mobile version of the team pages gives them the ability to check off each of the artifacts as they find them. This interactive experience was an important piece of creating the scavenger hunt feel for the Starting Nine.
We undertook extensive research to create a strategic media plan that included placement and editorial features in travel publications targeted at drive-time as well as national audiences. Our designers and media strategists worked together to develop eye-catching ads that were designed for each publication in addition to the editorial content.
On the public relations front, we assembled an influencer list that was divided into categories of focus beyond sports. Each list had a pitch tailored to the target niche and interests. Influencer outreach is currently underway and will continue throughout the whole campaign.
Since the campaign launched, it has already earned national coverage from the MLB Network as well as regional media coverage all over the country. Find your team to begin the Starting Nine experience for yourself.
