• by Fern Siegel , April 3, 2023

Baseball may be America’s pastime, but some have written it off.

To combat myths about the sport, the San Francisco Giants tapped nice&frank to create a brand campaign, Giphy and TikTok partnerships to highlight the game’s excitement.

The facts were clear: MLB reports attendance dropped 6% in 2022, and younger demos considered baseball boring.

The agency, launched seven months ago by ex-Goodby Silverstein & Partners execs Laura Petruccelli and Graham North, tackled the problem head on. It designed a campaign to celebrate baseball’s key moments played in Oracle Park, seen as one of the best — and most beautiful — ballparks in the league.

And it used fans, caught up in the sport's excitement, to tell the story.

“Our goal was to show that contrary to popular belief, there's a little something for everyone at a Giants game. If you're a longtime fan, you crave the focus the intricate nuances of baseball strategy demand: the lineup changes, pitching duels and unspoken rules,” Drew Forrest, director of culture & strategy, nice&frank, told Agency Daily.

“If you're a new fan, a memorable experience is more likely to attract you. The amazing food, the ballpark entertainment, or just having a good time with friends.”

The integrated campaign and brand platform, running across TV, social, OOH, radio and more, carries the tag “Nothing like it.” The 60-second spots are voiced by longtime Giants fan and Bay Area rapper IamSu! and begins with: “Baseball is boring?”

Each ad opens on a sleeping fan in the ballpark, before real-life footage and colorful animation champion fan enthusiasm.

In addition, the San Francisco Giants launched an activation on GIPHY inviting fans to use GIF stickers to put players in  unexpected places. Fans can GIF a player for the chance to win tickets to the Home Opener. Plus, they can have their moment made into a digital OOH poster that will run across San Francisco.

New players will be added throughout the season and a collection of the best moments will appear in the spots.

Attempting to bring in new fans, nice&frank also devised the Skeptickets program, encouraging baseball fans to tag a baseball skeptic to get a free ticket and invite their friends to see the game through their eyes. TikTok creators will lead the Skeptickets program, a place where the “Is baseball boring?” debate is ongoing.

“It was important for us to develop a strategy that appeals to the next generation of fans without alienating the current one,” said Mario Alioto, executive vice president, business operations, SFG. “There’s nothing like the beauty and nuances of the game of baseball or the unique experience at Oracle Park.”