MLB Used UGC to Generate More Wins

Major League Baseball is the oldest major professional sports league in the world, formed way back before electricity in 1876. For over a century, it was even commonly referred to as “America’s Pastime”. But over the last 30 years, the sport has seen a steady decline in the number of TV viewers, starting from almost 22 million in 1992 to just 7.51 million in 2022. And a recent survey found that just 32% of Gen Z in the U.S. consider themselves baseball fans. But with the help of advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, MLB is changing its approach this year with a campaign called “Baseball Is Something Else”. And, like many modern campaigns, the work leans heavily into user-generated and Found Content.

The league’s strategy is to go where the audience is and tap into creators on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok as well as providing professional players with an easy way to get involved through a platform called Greenfly. The brainchild of two-time MLB all-star Shawn Green, Greenfly is a social media platform that describes itself as the world’s leading cloud-based digital media collection & distribution platform. But most importantly: Greenfly is where the players are.

“We have over 900 MLB players on our platform,” says Greenfly co-founder and CEO Daniel Kirschener, “and when Shawn was at spring training, players kept coming up to him and saying: ‘I didn’t know you were involved in Greenfly. I love Greenfly — I use it every day!’”

How to win with UGC

Whether you’re running a sports league or a mattress company, social media platforms have made it easier for your audience to have direct access to your brand. And the development of more powerful smartphone cameras means anyone can create content that reflects their personal relationship with the brand. Here’s some questions to ask when considering using UGC to build connections with your biggest fans.

1. What are your customers (fans) creating? And where are they creating it? In baseball’s case, many fans are now putting together highlight reels and compilations of their favorite players’ performances. Instead of discouraging this, baseball is embracing it. What are your fans doing with your brand? Are they using the boxes to create dioramas? Are they writing their own jingles based on yours? Get to know them.
2. Do your employees have a sandbox to play in? Bespoke platforms like Greenfly give brands a way to have more control over the narrative, while giving fans access to behind-the-scenes footage and other exclusive perks they wouldn't otherwise get - creating a stronger emotional bond between them and the brand. It’s not just a platform, it’s a community of users and players. Where do you post your employee content? Is there an opportunity for that in your organization? What added connection would that give you?
3. Do you have a licensing strategy? UGC isn’t free. Just because a fan posts about your brand doesn’t give you the right to use the shot without paying the creator for usage. Make sure you have a plan to get licensing and keep a paper trail for every piece of content you use, across different media.

UGC and Found Content have become increasingly important for brands to incorporate into their marketing strategies. MLB is taking the right steps in this direction, and we can expect to see a lot more user-generated content and Found Content used in marketing campaigns for the league in the future.

Want to learn how to curate, license and win big with user-generated content? Contact Catch+Release. Our curators can help you find new sources of content to fit your brief and our licensing experts are ready to build a rock-solid plan for safe usage.

End-Game: When licensed correctly, UGC and Found Content lets you play with your fans while avoiding any brand injuries.