MLB – Ponle Acento

Putting an Accent on Culture

Challenge

Despite Latinos’ notable contributions to baseball, and the sizable Hispanic audience, only a very small percentage consider themselves real fans. We saw an opportunity to reignite the passion for a game that should be a source of cultural pride. How do you fuel excitement for MLB among passive baseball followers and convert them into avid fans?

Action

Accents are widely used in Spanish language, including many first and last names.

However, something curious happens when Latinos move to the US. The accent in their names frequently gets “lost”. We saw it as something bigger and more poignant — a loss of cultural identity. This observation sparked our MLB Hispanc Heritage Month “Ponle Acento” campaign.

What began in a television spot as a call-out to Robinson Cano to put an accent on his jersey (CANÓ), spurred him to actually do it and create some momentum. L.A. Dodger Mexican superstar, Adrián González, who with one simple tweet to his followers announced that he put an accent on his jersey challenged other Latinx players to follow suit. The snow ball started rolling downhill.

Results

The campaign quickly went viral. Players, fans, influencers, the media, and celebrities joined in on the conversation. In fact, this dialogue even moved beyond baseball, as Latino celebrities had accents added to their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

MLB achieved unprecedented awareness among our Latinx target and drove the cultural conversation through “Ponle Acento”. Its organic, viral success is even more remarkable given the modest production budget, and that the media budget was allocated exclusively in limited pre-owned assets. The response was astonishing — a testament to the power of a creative idea driven by strategic insights:

Reached over 46M individuals on Twitter alone, nearly double the reach of NBA’s Hispanic campaign (éne-bé-á) that receives more robust support. Reached over 7M individuals on Instagram. From the start, 28 players and coaches requested accents be added to the names on their jerseys. Revitalized Hispanic youth interest in the game. 78% of males and 72% of females talking about the campaign on Twitter were 13-24.

500M

More than 500 Million Organic Social Media Impressions

28

Players and coaches requested accents be added to their jerseys