Sony - MLB The Show, Opening Day

As another baseball season approached, Sony found itself in the marketing equivalent of a bases-loaded jam. Each March, the release of MLB: The Show led off with huge buzz and massive sales at launch, but then quickly slumped by the end of spring training.

To establish a sustainable connection between MLB: The Show and the game of baseball itself, we laid out a bold directive for social media communication: Own Opening Day.

To command the attention of social influencers, we invented a first-of-its-kind content tool: The Vine Baseball Card.

Using MLB: The Show’s advanced player creation tools, we crafted perfectly lifelike versions of leading baseball and gaming tastemakers and inserted them into the game as playable characters. We then created personalized Vine baseball cards, featuring each influencer in action for his favorite team, and presented them as an Opening Day surprise.

We created a series of content using MLB: The Show’s advanced in-game technology to engage fans with statistical predictions for the upcoming season – a bonanza for the stat junkies and armchair pundits who were just gearing up for their fantasy baseball drafts.

We set up a massive online event, with a real-time content studio at PlayStation headquarters. From there, we delivered an all out slugfest of up-to-the-minute content that enabled Opening Day’s real-life winners to share some good-natured smack-talk with their rivals.

In the days following Opening Day, we connected with writers from digital outlets to promote MLB: The Show‘s innovative approach, using features that illustrate the game’s “So Real It’s Unreal” proposition and showing fans what it’s like to truly be in the game.

10X Social Engagement from past years , 20MM Social Impressions, 3.5% of all Opening Day Conversation tied back to The Show