As controversy engulfed the ninth-inning deal through which Cablevision Systems Corp. added the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, the MSO's regional sports networks in New York unveiled a baseball ad campaign with a Latin flavor.
An effort touting Spanish-language coverage of the New York Mets on Cablevision's Madison Square Garden Network and Fox Sports Net New York broke last week. The campaign, to start with print and outdoor components, will extend to several other media outlets in mid-April.
'Comprehensive'
MSG Network vice president of marketing Steve Mars said the overall media mix — outdoor, affiliates' cross-channel spots, radio and newspapers — is "our most comprehensive Spanish advertising campaign" to date. Mars placed the campaign's dollar value into seven figures, but declined to be more specific.
The first ad debuted in the Hispanic Daily
on March 31. On the outdoor front, billboard headlines include: "Los reyes de Queens" (the kings of Queens) for MSGN and "Una gran alternativa si no puede asistir a todos los 162 partidos" (A great alternative if you can't make it to all 162 games) for Fox Sports New York.
Mars said the outdoor effort would eventually include more than 200 billboards in all five New York City boroughs, with the fewest positioned in Staten Island.
Some ads will mention that MSGN and Fox Sports Net New York will, for the second season, cover 10 of the Mets games simultaneously, with the former channel's coverage in English and the latter's in Spanish, he said.
Besides those games, 100 of MSGN's English telecasts will offer Spanish play-by-play via the Secondary Audio Programming feature on TV sets. A "significant" portion of the campaign will trumpet the SAP availability, Mars noted.
MSGN's initial SAP game was the Opening Day (March 31) contest versus the Chicago Cubs. Mars said that the channel's first pitch on Hispanic coverage would not come until later in April.
Bouchez Kent created the outdoor campaign.
