Baby Birds 'Are Comin' to Play'

Even though a Baltimore fan’s fancy turns to baseball each spring, the question facing Trahan, Burden & Charles chief creative officer Allan Charles was how to market a faceless team with a sub-.500 winning percentage.

Charles’ answer is summed up in the tagline for the Baltimore shop’s giddy new round of television commercials: “The kids are comin’ to play!”

The spots—”Shaving,” “Sprink-ler,” “Bread Crumbs,” “Tractor,” “Bobblehead” among them—show Orioles’ second-baseman Jerry Hairston, outfielder Louis Matos and other team members, not as sluggers, Golden Glovers or fireballers, but likeable, innocent and, well, goofy kids.

“These players understand that marketing is part of the 360-degree picture of a professional team,” said Charles, who wrote and directed the campaign.

In the spots, Orioles manager Mike Hargrove is portrayed as patient parent rather than coach, watching and waiting as the boys douse themselves under sprinklers, discover the joys of shaving and carom around the infield on a tractor.

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