How 'Anti-Billboards' Are Helping Sports Teams Advertise

When sports fans want an authentic local connection to their teams, marketers sometimes need to read the writing on the wall. A roster of sports brands have called in Muros—a Chicago-based marketing firm co-founded by Dave Seidler, Tricia Binder and Mateo Conner—to strengthen those neighborhood bonds. Muros introduces artists to brands and provides large-scale platforms for their multimedia works. Seidler has found partners with experience in the corporate and advertising worlds and used that expertise to locate artists and create installations for companies including Instacart, Oakley and Bose. “We all had this shared vision that we felt that artists weren't getting enough opportunity to get their work seen, and brands weren't authentically connecting with their audiences,” Seidler said. Muros’ artists have made interactive digital installations for brands and public artwork for residential and commercial developments, using an “anti-billboard approach.” That enables the company’s 3,000 artists to minimize branding and prioritize their personal touch on murals, sculptures, augmented-reality displays and more. Muros created an artist database that can pinpoint a brand’s region, target demographic and favored medium. For sports franchises, Muros offers a chance to get into a local community, connect with artists who may themselves be fans and put out broad messages that people who may never even buy tickets can echo on social media. The murals can also live on in a community long after the season ends, continuing an organic connection with the sports brand. That sort of object permanence came in handy amid Covid-19 lockdowns and a slow-building comeback. With more people out and about during the later stages of the pandemic, there are greater expectations for the outdoor ads they’re seeing. A survey by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) and Harris Poll found that 42% of respondents notice outdoor ads more now than they did prior to Covid-19, and roughly 87% of people under 36 said they would repost such ads on social media. So what makes it into their feeds? Fifty-two percent said the ad should highlight a local artist, 45% want it to be “colorful and vibrant” and 35% want simple design and few words. That presents an opportunity for brands to patronize local artists, even if the logos and messages don't quite reach the level of more organic street art. "In many ways, using artist murals and other related installations is just another method to break through the clutter," said Rick Wilson, associate professor of marketing at Texas State University. "However, works by local artists can offer brands so much more than a clever headline or a billboard embellishment." These are just some of the teams that have tapped Muros artists to score points with fans and locals: Houston Astros During their run to the World Series in 2019, the Astros commissioned Muros artists to paint 10 murals around Houston—one for each playoff win. Richard Tapia, the Astros’ senior manager of entertainment marketing, said the work still resonates with fans. The Houston Astros commissioned Muros artists to paint 10 murals around the city. “Many of these things are still up, and this was three years ago,” Tapia said. “With street art, a lot of times they get tagged up but, to my surprise, none of them have ever been touched. It speaks to the level of affinity with the brand and the way that we present it to our fan base and to the people in those communities.” Milwaukee Bucks In the two decades prior to 2019, the Bucks strung together just seven winning seasons. But after drafting franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo and building a new arena in Fiserv Forum, they made a run to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals that year. The team marked its transition “from aspirational to inspirational” by commissioning Muros artist Bigshot Robot to paint a 2,500-square-foot “Fear the Deer” mural in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. Muros artist Bigshot Robot painted a 2,500-square-foot 'Fear the Deer' mural for the Milwaukee Bucks. “What they were able to help us convey was interest in connection to the community and putting a permanent or semi-permanent kind of mark on the city,” said Bucks CMO Dustin Godsey. “It was trying to capture the essence of the brand without just putting a billboard in downtown Milwaukee.” New York Rangers At the start of the 2021-2022 National Hockey League season, the Rangers wanted to acknowledge current players, pay tribute to recently deceased legend Rod Gilbert and acknowledge longtime star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist’s jersey-retirement night at Madison Square Garden. They did all three by having Muros artist Key Detail paint a 900-square-foot mural of Rangers players at 213 Bowery on the Lower East Side, using partner Benjamin Moore Paints’ trademark Rangers colors. The piece included a QR code that gave fans a chance to win tickets to Lundqvist’s night, and it sat across from a pop-up shop filled with memorabilia honoring Gilbert. “The way we look at Rangers branding is class personified," said Adam Laitsas, svp, head of marketing at Madison Square Garden Sports. “We think they came across in a very fun and creative way, showing the other side of the players to the fans, but at the same time in our traditional Ranger way.”

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How an 'Anti-Billboard Approach' Is Helping Sports Teams Stand Out Outdoors

Muros and its artists give fans an authentic local connection to their teams

Jason Notte

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Jason Notte