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Ad of the Day

MLB "Beyond Optimism"

Brand: Major League Baseball
Agency: McCann Erickson North America
Review Date: April 14, 2009

"You gotta have hope," explains the showstopping number in the vintage musical Damn Yankees. And hope is indeed baseball's animating spirit in spring, when fans of even the weakest teams can dream of a season that confounds all reasonable expectations. This spot for Major League Baseball, via McCann Erickson of New York, taps into that sentiment as it shows clips of fans opining optimistically about their teams' prospects for 2009. Actually, the expectations are perfectly realistic in many of these cases, as seven of the 13 teams whose fans are featured went to the post-season last year. But the spot does include a few people who can plan overseas vacations in October with little risk they'll miss a chance to watch their team in the playoffs. (Sorry, Pirates fans.) When the tagline refers to the fans' cheery predictions as "beyond optimism," is it implying that we've witnessed some out-and-out delusions? Well, if you're going to be delusional about something, your team's pennant prospects are a relatively harmless outlet. Anyhow, fans of good teams will be prompted to get out to the ballpark soon, so they won't look like front-runners if their team does romp to the pennant. And fans of bad teams will be prompted to get out there before the number in the "games behind" column hits double digits. --Mark Dolliver

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Overall rating:
(3.29 ) Good

17 Comments
  • 1. KES comments:
    October 17, 2009

    An ad for our times! Love it - Makes me wanna grab my giant styrofoam hand and have a hot dog. Go Cubs!!!!!


  • 2. SL comments:
    October 16, 2009

    I am not a sports fan, but I think the ad works because I wanted to watch it, cared about the people and empathized with them. It's also humorous instead of being melodramatic because its about baseball. Good job.


  • 3. JWmercury comments:
    October 15, 2009

    Bravo! This truly captures what's at the heart of baseball -- real fans, really passionate people. Fine spot.


  • 4. M360 comments:
    October 15, 2009

    A really great way to connect the passion of fans. A simple idea executed wonderfully. Nothing like hitting the right heart strings.


  • 5. James comments:
    October 15, 2009

    Its always nice to see real people in commercials and not just a bunch of actors being paid to say nice things about a product


  • 6. Jesse Larner comments:
    October 09, 2009

    This is great -- heartfelt and straightforward, just showing peoples' joy and enthusiasm for a beautiful sport. No artifice, simple but effective. Well done!


  • 7. C'mon comments:
    May 12, 2009

    It's baseball. It's our pastime. Let's get something great.


  • 8. sssadow comments:
    April 17, 2009

    I usually like the emotional appeal route, using the feelings of real people, but I can see why some of you consider this lazy and repetitive.


  • 9. ew comments:
    April 16, 2009

    you people are really mean... why are you so bitter avalonrik- your agency lose a big account recently? take your crap out on someone or something else


  • 10. avalonrik comments:
    April 15, 2009

    Take me out to the ballpark, but definitely take me out of this lame ad! Maybe it's time for MLB to can McCann.


  • 11. newt g. comments:
    April 14, 2009

    hey ted, it's not hating to call a mediocre spot a mediocre spot. and i work plenty hard. hard enough to realize this isn't a 3-star spot.


  • 12. Ted comments:
    April 14, 2009

    You know, to read these comments you'd think advertising is full of a bunch of republicans—all bluster and criticism, no ideas. The way I see it, if you got time to get on here and hate you ain't working hard enough.


  • 13. jim comments:
    April 14, 2009

    There is nothing great about this spot. It's been done a 100 times already. NFL stuff blows it away as does the new NBA work. It's minor league work.


  • 14. hal incandenza comments:
    April 14, 2009

    great? this is not great. it's average at best. and lazy at worst. the kind of idea it takes about 5 minutes to come up with.


  • 15. john comments:
    April 14, 2009

    I believe the Damn Yankees song you referenced is " You gotta have heart."


  • 16. Stan Coble comments:
    April 14, 2009

    Buy me some peanuts! Great spot.


  • 17. Sammy comments:
    April 14, 2009

    Great!


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