Sports Toss More Than Soft Pitches for Latinos

NEW YORK Blue Demon Jr. threw out the first pitch between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 2. The crowd roared.

On any given game day, nearly half of the 56,000-seat stadium is filled with Latino fans. In early May, they watched in awe as the famous Lucha Libre Mexican wrestler went to bat for their hometown team.

Behind home turf at Dodger Stadium, the baseball team’s marketing team stood in a different kind of awe: the seamless activation of brands joining forces to make a connection with Hispanics in Los Angeles.

As part of the game, Full Throttle, Coca-Cola’s energy drink, had sponsored an area-wide giveaway: buy-one-Dodger-ticket-get-one-free at local grocers Valu Plus Food Warehouse and Top Valu Markets.

“[Coca-Cola/Full Throttle] is a perfect example of not only activating in-stadium [marketing] but also taking it to retail and leveraging the Dodger marks for its grass-roots marketing,” said Sergio del...