What: Minor League Baseball and ECHO Inc. have built a partnership via MiLB’s Copa de la Diversión program.
Why it matters: As the first corporate sponsor of Copa, ECHO can serve as a blueprint for how companies can best hit the large geographic area that this demographic encompasses throughout 160 MiLB cities.
Copa de la Diversión, the successful and growing Hispanic outreach program introduces last year by Minor League Baseball (@MiLB), has its first dedicated corporate sponsor in ECHO (@ECHO_USA). The agreement, announced last week, makes the Chicago company (via Japan) the “Official Outdoor Power Tool of MiLB” and of the Copa program.
ECHO will activate its sponsorship with programs in many of the MiLB cities participating in Copa in 2019. Pregame events targeting professionals will highlight ECHO products, and teams will have their use for field and park maintenance.
“We are proud to have ECHO Incorporated as the first official outdoor power tool of Minor League Baseball, and to integrate them into our rapidly-growing Copa de la Diversión platform,” said David Wright, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer for Minor League Baseball.
ECHO will also gain social and digital media presence on the consumer side through MiLB.com, the MiLB mobile app and team social outlets. Community initiatives, use of MiLB and team logos and partnerships in this month’s winter meetings and trade show are also part of the agreement, which ECHO notes is “specifically designed to embrace the culture and values that resonate most with participating teams’ local U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities by bolstering their marketing and customer service efforts to create a culturally-relevant gameday experience.”
“We are excited about this new partnership because it provides us a good grassroots approach to reaching our customers,” added Wayne Thomsen, ECHO Vice President of Marketing and Product Management. “What better way to help people make a connection with our brand and products than joining efforts with Minor League Baseball. The fact that teams will use ECHO products for field and ballpark maintenance further reinforces the connection.”
Join us at PORTADA LOS ANGELES on March 15, 2019 at the Loews Beach Hotel Santa Monica, where we will dive deep into sports and soccer marketing’s preeminent topics. Felix Palau, VP Marketing, Heineken will discuss “How to measure ROI and transfer best practices between sports marketing platforms”. Other speaking engagements include Tiago Pinto, Global Marketing Director, Gatorade who will provide answers to the question: “Will Corporate America jump on the soccer opportunity?”Attendees will also be able to benefit from Portada’s meet-up service of three-eight-minute meetings with top brand executives!
MiLB hopes this is the first in a series of similar partnerships, after having established Copa de la Diversión and more than doubled team participation for 2019. For a company like ECHO, it’s a wide-ranging sponsorship, targeting professionals who use such equipment, distributors, dealers, and general consumers, and can serve as a blueprint for how companies can best hit the large geographic area that this demographic encompasses throughout 160 MiLB cities.
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