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The Blue Jays 2003 print advertising campaign, prepared by Toronto agency MacLaren McCann, won the 2004 National Sports Forum ADchievement Award last week in Chicago as the best in sports. The other finalists, from more than 100 submissions, were the Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Toledo Mud Hens, Ohio State University and Russell Athletic. Jim Bloom, the club's Director of Consumer Marketing, says, "The Baseball North campaign was designed to strike a chord and connect Toronto fans with the players and the team. The success of the creative arranged through MacLaren McCann was validated by increased game attendance, as well as a surge in television ratings and traffic on bluejays.com. To have an award of this nature to cap off these results is quite an honour."


Asked by Kris Johnson of Sports Business Daily if he had any regrets about the notorious "Boo Matsui" ad, which featured bird droppings on a Yankees cap, Bloom was unapologetic. "Our job is to get the highest possible impact for the lowest possible cost. If you look at the results of that ad -- and baseball interest at the time in Toronto was dormant, we were still going into the hockey playoffs, there was a lot to battle there -- by the time the smoke cleared, we had our first 50,000-person crowd since 1995 and our highest TV rating in four or five years. It got people back into the Blue Jays."

Some of us liked the campaign more than others, but it was certainly effective; we discussed it here at length more than once, and non-fans also took notice. I thought many of the TV spots were brilliant, especially the weight room argument between the now-departed catchers over Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr. Interestingly enough, a few ads that missed the mark with me were Mrs. Coach's favourites. I don't expect to see the Cy Young winner in a frilly dress this season, but I hope they don't lose that irreverent sense of humour as the focus shifts for 2004. Though it may still be a different kind of game up here, this year's tagline is "Baseball North: You've Gotta See These Guys Play."
Baseball North Honoured | 35 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_EddieZosky - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 03:07 PM EST (#79358) #
Come on! The Roy/Woody ad was by far the best! I also loved Butters (or was it Carlos) secretly taking the swig of maple syrup.

Great ads. Great job.

In other news, did everybody read the latest Jays financial reports?
_Ben NS - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 03:14 PM EST (#79359) #
Yes, I did see them and they look good. Maybe in a couple of years we'll actually be on the plus side again.

My favourite ad from last year was when Phelps took a massive swing at some catcher's head.
Coach - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 03:20 PM EST (#79360) #
That was Mike Barnett swigging the maple syrup, Eddie. I also liked the bug-swatting one, though I thought Phelps should have cross-checked the catcher instead of punching him. It sounds like the emphasis this year might be on how good the players are, instead of poking fun at Canadian stereotypes, but I hope they're just as creative. Kudos to Jim Bloom for shaking things up from the gawd-awful "I love a parade" days.
_Matthew E - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 03:25 PM EST (#79361) #
Maybe in a couple of years we'll actually be on the plus side again.

Is there anyone out there fluent enough in baseball accounting to say how close to reality the Jays' financial numbers are? My default reaction to them is to toss them out and figure that the team probably made money in '03. In fact, as long as the Jays are owned by their primary (and, really, secondary) broadcaster, I'm not sure they'll ever claim to be making money.
Named For Hank - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 03:54 PM EST (#79362) #
According to the guy in the Bullpen Store at the 'Dome, he had at least a dozen requests every day for the Jays winter hat with earflaps that was pictured in one ad and sadly did not exist -- he said that in the end they were too expensive to produce.

I loved the Roy and Woody ad. Keep 'em surreal!
Pistol - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 04:27 PM EST (#79363) #
My default reaction to them is to toss them out and figure that the team probably made money in '03.

On a cash basis I would guess that the team was positive last year. The non-cash expenses are where you would get the difference between the cash amount and the reported amount. Of course, at one time those non-cash expenses were cash expenses so in the long run it evens out.

Regardless, I don't have any real interest in that. The team's given a budget and I'm more interested in how that's allocated. I suspect that the $50 million is the minimum payroll the Jays would have, and if things go well financially that's gravy on top of that.
Gerry - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 04:35 PM EST (#79364) #
Is there anyone out there fluent enough in baseball accounting to say how close to reality the Jays' financial numbers are?

The key missing information is how much did the Jays receive for the broadcasting rights from Rogers Sportsnet and from the Rogers Fan network. If those amounts were known you could see if they were market rates and adjust accordingly.

Btw the Jays deficit last year was between $15 and $20 million. Lets assume $20 mil. The payroll will be down by US$3 mil this year or $4 mil Canadian. Also the Jays should pick up another $3 mil from the full year of lower exchange rates. Those two items reduce the deficit to around $13 mil.

That brings us to attendance. As Paul Godfrey pointed out some of the Jays tickets in 2003 were deeply discounted. If the Jays have the same attendance in 2004 as 2003, they should pick up $2-3 million more revenue.

To bridge that $10 million gap, assuming an average ticket price and merchandise profit of $20, the Jays would need 500,000 more fans to come to the games than 2003.

So I would guess that the Jays break even point is around 2.5 million fans, assuming the payments for broadcasting are at market rates.
_Rob - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 04:36 PM EST (#79365) #
Speaking of "I love a parade", were there any Baseball North commercials featuring Carlos? I don't remember one with him.

My favourite was the one with Woody writing 300 lines on the chalkboard about not swinging at a 3-0 pitch (or something similar), then JP walks by and tells him to do it over.
_EddieZosky - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 04:40 PM EST (#79366) #
Didn't Carlos have a subway ad along the lines of lumber shortage or hardwood shortage this year? I don't recall seeing him in a TV ad though.
_SportsmanTO - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 04:44 PM EST (#79367) #
My favourite commercial was the Mike Barnett one.

As for the Jays numbers I think they actually made money this year I mean it's kinda hard to lose money when everything is so well integrated into the parent company which is the dominant media outlet/corporate entity other then the CHUM group. I'm not well versed in economics but i'll agree with Pistol on the non cash and actual cash.

I actually think the Jays will publicly report break even numbers after this year with the success of Roy Halladay's '03 season and the fact that this team is being built for the future but also VERY competitive in the present. I also see the Canadian dollar getting stronger and stronger compared to the US as the US is really mishandling their economics. (Maybe we'll see a .80 cent dollar by next year. One can dream!) I just hope that the Jays will open the wallet in the coming years when the players they're grooming are about ready to leave the bird's nest.
Pistol - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 04:46 PM EST (#79368) #
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/20020403pappas.shtml
A couple years ago Doug Pappas looked in depth on baseball revenues & expenses (COMN). One of the last installments of the series showed what MLB was reporting for operating income and what Forbes estimated operating income at.

FWIW the difference for the Jays was about $23 million in 2001.
Mike Green - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 05:21 PM EST (#79369) #
Pistol, I missed that one the first time round. Thanks. The gist of the article for our purposes is that Forbes refused to accept $20 million of the Blue Jays 2001 expenses because of the relations between the Blue Jays and the parties that the money was paid to. If Forbes' view is correct, and I have no idea whether it is or is not, and still obtained in 2003, the Jays would in fact have made money in 2003.
_Jordan - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 05:35 PM EST (#79370) #
I hate to be the naysayer (although it is my technical Batter's Box designation), but I didn't care for the Baseball North commercials. The "Boo Matsui" spot didn't bother me at all -- hey, this is hardball; there's no harm in going after the big dogs -- and I certainly appreciated the effort to be different and grab the attention of a somnolent fan base.

But I personally found that in most cases, the execution was lame: the spots were either underplayed way too much (the frozen Gatorade, the starting pitchers in the freezer, and so forth -- made worse by mumbled lines, Camcorder video quality and the absence of a clear message), or it was just offbeat to the point of being silly (for me, the Doc-and-Woody spot became painful to watch after a while -- do we really need to see the staff ace in a friggin' dress?). As actors, the Blue Jays themselves came across as, well, a terrific set of ballplayers -- which is a shame, because several of them are bright and articulate young men. And I have to say, the "Canadiana" jokes got old real fast: fellas, it's actually not that cold in this country in the summertime.

I think my biggest problem with the campaign, though, was overexposure: during the games, they'd show the same spots over ... and over ... and over again. I was absolutely sick of them by the All-Star Break. Moreover, at that point, the team was flirting with contention and grabbing headlines on their own. This was an exciting, powerful and fun ballclub -- and they were stuck with a low-key, ironic, almost absurdist marketing campaign. Of course there was no way for the marketers to anticipate that -- they had to assume the team would suck rocks for another year and that the club couldn't be sold on its own merits -- but it still made for a bad juxtaposition.

I'm glad the spots won a marketing award and everything, but I'm really hoping, as Kent reports, that they'll switch gears this year. In Halladay, Wells and Hinske they have three marketable cornerstones; in the O-Dog, they have an electric bundle of personality just waiting to be exploited; and in Delgado, even if this is his last season, they have the most charismatic figure on the Toronto sports scene (sorry, Vince). The team can stand on its own two feet now, and I look forward to seeing fewer ads with Mounties and frosbite and maple syrup, and more baseball ads about baseball players in baseball games.
_Chuck Van Den C - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 05:49 PM EST (#79371) #
The "Boo Matsui" spot didn't bother me at all

It's funny Jordan, that one really bothered me. Maybe I'm being overly politically correct, but it struck me as xenophobic, even though I'm sure that was not its intention.

If there were a "boo Sheffield" campaign this year, that would be tolerable (though much less desirable than a campaign aimed at supporting the Jays' best players). But Matsui, coming from a foreign country, deserved better -- at least from we polite Canadians -- at least during his first tour of the league. Once entrenched, of course, he was deserving of the standard issue anti-Yankee hostilities.
_Ryan Day - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 05:49 PM EST (#79372) #
The Baseball North ads were perhaps offbeat to the point of being very hit-or-miss. I kinda liked most of them: They were very understated and often subtle, which seems to be a rarity nowadays.

My favourite of the year, though, wasn't for the Jays themselves, but for Sportsnet: Vernon Wells' Marshall McLuhan impression. Laughed myself silly at that one.
_Andrew Edwards - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 05:49 PM EST (#79373) #
Does anyone know of anywhere all these ads are posted online? I don't watch TV, so I've missed most of the TV ads.
_peteski - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 05:57 PM EST (#79374) #
But, how would you do an effective baseball ad about baseball players in baseball games. The only way I have seen these done in the past is a bunch of fast clips, edited rapidly to give the impression "hey, look how exciting a Jays game is." Quite frankly, I forget about those types of ads the moment they're off the screen. I love baseball, but a baseball ad can't quite be effective like that.

I didn't love the Baseball North ads, but I remembered them. They were unique. They could have been funnier, no doubt about it, but I don't think it would be that difficult to make funny ads promoting the ballclub. I also really like to see the players acting. I really hope they do more of that. Just my opinion, but I'd much rather see funny ads than your standard issue baseball ad.
_Matthew E - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:06 PM EST (#79375) #
You know the best baseball commercial I ever saw? Maybe someone remembers this. It's from about '88.

It's set Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on a sunny day. Jeff Reardon is pitching against Mark McGwire. All you can hear is some kind of strummy fiddle music. The camera is cutting back and forth between closeups of Reardon getting the signs and getting into his set position, and McGwire taking his stance. In the background you can hear an announcer saying, "It all comes down to this!" Reardon goes into his windup and pitches, and McGwire tenses, preparing to swing. Fade to black. I think it was an MLB commercial, but it might have been TSN.

I still say, "It all comes down to this!" on occasion, and when I do, I'm quoting this commercial.
_S.K. - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:10 PM EST (#79376) #
Those commercials from a few years back about Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux trying to learn to hit home runs were pretty funny.

Anyway, I'll agree that the ads could have been better - not so much the acting as the writing, I thought! The Howe/Orr one was my favourite, because it was simple and clever. The rest were just a not quite clever enough for me.

But I agree that it was a nice try, and that it's the route they should continue to go. I'll take a moderately funny ad over a stylistic MTV-type thing any day.
_Dr. Zarco - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:16 PM EST (#79377) #
Those Glavine/Maddux commercials were pretty funny-"Chicks dig the long ball." I'd like to see the Jays commercials again too. They were on the Jays website when they came out last year, but not living in Toronto, I haven't seen them since.
Named For Hank - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:16 PM EST (#79378) #
The ads used to be available on bluejays.com. Don't know if they still are.

in the O-Dog, they have an electric bundle of personality just waiting to be exploited

Amen. O-Dog needs a talk show.
_Paul D - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:28 PM EST (#79379) #
While I liked some of the ads, I got a little sick of advertising baseball by saying that Canadians like Hockey. I don't really like hockey, and would like to see the Blue Jays break out on their own, and not be dependent on stuff like that.
The intention was good though.
_bsh - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:32 PM EST (#79380) #
Did anyone see the Sportsnet feature where O-Dog and Woody went to a Tampa Bay Lightning game?

Hudson was absolutely hilarious. He even played some hallway hockey with Vincent Lecavalier (who looked none too thrilled).

Anyways, I completely agree; get the guy his own talk show.
_Darryl - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:45 PM EST (#79381) #
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/fan_forum/commercials.jsp
Yep follow the link to get to the commercials.
_Dr. Zarco - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 06:53 PM EST (#79382) #
Thanks Darryl
_David Armitage - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 07:46 PM EST (#79383) #
Amen. O-Dog needs a talk show.

They should give him Mike Bullard's timeslot, it'd be 100 times funnier and the ratings would probably skyrocket.
_Donkit R.K. - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 08:50 PM EST (#79384) #
I wouldn't switch over from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, though , David ;-) .
_Rob - Thursday, February 05 2004 @ 10:21 PM EST (#79386) #
Huh. My favourite ad doesn't seem to be on the list. Did anyone else see the one I was talking about (Woody and the blackboard) or did I just imagine that one? Strange.

And I thought the ads were inventive and funny, Sure, there was some overkill, but it was a good idea nonetheless.
_pete_the_donkey - Friday, February 06 2004 @ 08:21 AM EST (#79387) #
That was Lidle left standing in the freezer, not Roy Boy.
_John Northey - Friday, February 06 2004 @ 08:56 AM EST (#79388) #
Just to dig into the Jays revenue figures a bit, I did a mini spreadsheet with the numbers they provided ($400k per penny the dollar gained) mixed with the rough change in the dollar (from 62 cents to 75 cents) and figured out how much revenue they would have had to have in Canadian dollars to save 400k US over the course of a year. This revenue would be ticket sales, local tv rights, local radio rights, and local merchandise sales (inside the dome, 'national' sales (outside of team stores) are shared by all teams iirc). The revenue worked out to be roughly $29 million Canadian (worth $18 million US at 62 cents up to 22 million at 75 cents, averaging 400k per penny increased, pace going faster the higher the dollar gets). If we assume they get $10 per seat sold (given the lower bowl costs well above that normally I figure it is probably low for an overall season estimate) we can estimate they made $10 million Canadian from sources they can easily manipulate (such as tv revenue). Is this reasonable? That is up to MLB to decide since the revenue is supposed to be shared.
_coliver - Friday, February 06 2004 @ 09:31 AM EST (#79389) #
O-Dog would be a talk show legend! We can call the show "Barking and Baying with the O-Dog" J.P should be his first guest! But first of all, let him work on hitting from the left side.

I wonder how well he would hit if he abandoned switch-hitting all together?

Congratulations to the Jays for winning the National Sports Forum Achievement Award.
Named For Hank - Friday, February 06 2004 @ 10:07 AM EST (#79390) #
The 'Roy in the freezer' one was particularly poorly executed, but many of them, including imo the maple syrup one, just weren't funny.

I totally disagree. The ads were goofy and understated, delivered without the LOOK, THE PUNCHLINE IS RIGHT HERE!!! sensibility that seems to permeate everything these days. Other than the lighting and film choice (I'm just not into off-colour and grainy for no good reason), I thought the campaign was terrific.

And I don't think the 'Boo Matsui' ads were xenophobic at all. I don't know if people didn't get them, but the idea is "Here comes a superstar from another country, let's welcome him the same way we welcome the rest of the Yankees". I thought it was a particularly funny reversal.

Does anyone have one of the shirts with Boo Matsui in Japanese on it that they want to get rid of? I have a friend in Japan who's just dying to wear one out and about.
_Wildrose - Friday, February 06 2004 @ 11:40 AM EST (#79391) #
Strange, out West we didn't get all of the adds(maybe they thought we wouldn't get it?). Thanks for the link Darryl. Overall I'd have to give them a mild thumbs up.

Now if you want funny,look at the outakes clip, where the ball-players expound on our beloved Monarch.
_Paul S - Sunday, February 08 2004 @ 11:12 PM EST (#79392) #
I loved the Sportsnet one with Cory Lidle. "Yeah, but can you do it underhand?" There were times I wished they had Hurricane Hazel in there instead of Cory.
Baseball North Honoured | 35 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.