‘Ready To Play’, Baseball For All Encourages Girls From Harlem To Harare To Participate

Harlem has always led the rest of the nation, and baseball is no different when we look at the New York Female Giants (pictured above). Now, as the NBA season kicks off and basketball fans across the land put on their lucky basketball-branded socks, many fans are still glued to their TVs watching the World Series.

And why not? After all, baseball is America’s beloved pastime.

And while baseball might not generate the same level of media interest as the NBA, it still packs a major media wallop of its own. BBDO Atlanta is taking advantage of the surge in interest with a new public awareness campaign that aims to get more girls playing hardball.

The “Ready to Play” campaign promotes Baseball for All, an organization that fosters and encourages girls to play the game of baseball. It was founded by Dr. Justine Siegel, the first woman to coach for a Major League Baseball organization, the Oakland A’s.

“If you tell a girl she can’t play baseball, what else does she think she can’t do?” Siegel asks. “For girls who love baseball, they can’t imagine playing anything else. Ultimately, we hope to give girls a league of their own. But until then, we’re targeting coaches to help make a real difference.”

The 60- and 30-second ads, which were made pro bono by BBDO Atlanta, will start airing this week and feature girls playing ball and saying the words to John Fogerty’s 1985 hit, Centerfield. The hope is that viewers will then visit BaseballForAll.com and help more girls find their way to dugouts from Harlem to Hollywood and maybe, with time, from Harlem to Harare.

Meanwhile, those NBA lucky socks and—and all other licensed gear—are a key ingredient to the league raking in big bucks as well as spreading the brand love across the entire planet. It doesn’t hurt that the league has a slew of foreign-born players in the ranks now that can help lead their fellow residents down the NBA’s brand-laden path.

Via source