Bring some electricity back to Baseball.
Project
MLB the Show 2023 Packaging & Campaign
Role
Strategy Lead.
Challenge
MLB The Show was a hit with hardcore baseball fans, but it was struggling to connect with the next generation of sports fans. To win them over, we needed a shock to the system. So we teamed up with the one player rewriting baseball’s future — Jazz Chisholm Jr. — and let his energy seep into everything we did: from the game’s cover to social, trailers, events, and press. Our mission? Bring a fresh spark, and a whole lot of Jazz, back to baseball.
From your Dad’s game to Your game.
The future of baseball belonged to a generation already tearing up the rulebook. We wanted to speak to fans who wanted to define glory on their own terms. To connect with them, we teamed up with the ultimate embodiment of that spirit: Jazz Chisholm Jr. His confidence, style, and energy challenged tradition from within.
We put Jazz everywhere — on packaging, social, trailers, in-game — turning him into the muse of our campaign. The result? A high-voltage year-long campaign that transformed MLB The Show into a place where a new generation could make baseball their own.
Baseball and The Show’s die-hards are passionate, protective — and easily offended when traditions are challenged. So we turned their greatest heroes into the messengers of change.
Instead of forcing a new era upon them, we let the legends themselves pass the baton. The greatest player of the past teamed up with the future of the game, sending a powerful message: this is a new generation of play, blessed by those who made it great in the first place.
After the Fallon stunt, we let Jazz make his debut in a way gamers love — an in-depth AMA of all things new-to-the-game. In an hour live stream, he spoke about the future of baseball, teased new features, and just hammed it up. It became most watched cover launch in the game’s history, and resulted in the most pre-orders of the game ever.
