Beyond October

I really loved MLB's Marketing Campaign this year. Even if television marketing is manipulative & Pavlovian in nature.

What do I mean? So many commercials follow this script: pleasant music, a warm soothing voice, and mesmerizing pictures or colors that all work together to make you feel good inside. And then, at the very end, they flash their brand logo on the screen. What are they doing? They're not trying to convince you that their product is better than someone else's. They're subversively making you feel good about their brand by flashing it after making you feel all warm & fuzzy. So that whenever you see that brand at the store, like Pavlov's dogs, you begin to feel all warm & fuzzy.

Sneaky, isn't it?

Or, the other script is that they'll make you laugh. They'll put a couple buffoons up on the screen. And they'll have them do something funny, like fail at tailgating or mess with Sasquatch. And after they've got you laughing, they flash their brand logo. So that whenever you see the logo, you unconsciously associate all the pleasant experiences of laughing with that brand.

So anyway, even though TV marketing is sly & manipulative, I liked this year's campaign by MLB. Even if it is just as sly & manipulative as the others. Maybe I excuse it because I like baseball anyway.

So, in honor of the beginning of the playoffs, I'm posting my favorites...