It’s amazing the magic that can happen in storytelling when professionals take the time to pause and ask questions. Case in point; Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, two baseball legends who literally speak to a multitude of audiences and are great examples for the melting pot of success that is baseball, had never sat down to talk their craft together…until recently.
The result, which came from a simple ask from the Detroit Tigers communications staff, became gold and was shared with audiences in both Spanish and English around the world; a tremendous goodwill builder for the game and for generations of fans, some who know the stories of Albert and Miggy, and some who don’t.
However what made this tale even more bittersweet was its rarity, especially in baseball, for players from OTHER teams to find the time to sit-down and storytell. It would seem like a no brainer, but in reality it’s a great example of exploding siloed thinking. We are all caught up in OUR own worlds that sometimes we don’t ask “what if” enough. Especially around sports and entertainment it seems like the various forces that are pulling always seem to be a “no first” mentality, when in reality as communicators and brand builders we should be always trying to find a way to get stuff done that can become a great best practice; this is one of those examples where a simple ask made it work.
Now it may seem like these things are easy, when in reality sitdowns like this; LeBron James’ and Maverick Carter’s show “The Shop” on HBO is a great example, take time and planning. In retirement or in the offseason or even at a gathering like an All Star game, maybe such things become a lot easier to do; in the regular season, tough to find the window, deal with the layers of approvals and then execute. The time, and the effort, except for the dogged, can be daunting.
How did this one work? We asked Tigers PR head Ron Colangelo to break it down; a good primer for what can be done. Also kudos to the Angels for pushing along, we need more of these examples…also watch the piece here
There are regular digital content meetings involving the Detroit Tigers Communications, Marketing and Broadcasting Departments with the goal of catalyzing the promotion our greatest assets – the players – using our digital and social media channels, in addition to earned local and national media. The idea of the Miguel Cabrera/Albert Pujols interview emanated from one of those meetings in late April. One challenge is finding impactful content opportunities for your star players that really get them engaged. On that topic, it was the Tigers’ Director of Media Relations who suggested that one of the great ways to get our star player – Miguel Cabrera – to be particularly engaged in a content opportunity was to find someone he admires, and sit them down for a conversation on camera.
We identified Albert as someone that Miguel has a deep admiration, and after speaking with the Angels to get their buy-in, we decided to give the concept a shot. The initial ask to each player was simple: would you sit down with Miguel/Albert and do an interview when the Angels are in Detroit at the beginning of May? Comically, each player answered in the exact same way: Miguel said (rather skeptically, as Pujols doesn’t do many sit-down interviews) “if Albert is in, I’ll do it” and Albert said “if Miguel agrees, I’m in”. They also texted each other to ensure this was legit.
From there, our MarComms group with the Tigers sat down a few more times and planned out what the shoot would look like, and where the line of questioning would go. Additionally, we built in questions and answers in Spanish for use on our social media channels.
On the day of the interview we asked Miguel what time worked best for him to do the sit-down, and he said “whatever Albert wants, I will do. He’s the boss”. That was a very telling response, foreshadowing what would end up becoming a stellar interview.
When the interview started it was clear that this was a special moment for both Albert and Miguel. They had come up together in the game, with Albert truly being Miguel’s role model. The content we captured speaks for itself in terms of their relationship, and as Miguel pointed out in the interview, it was the first time the two of these future Hall of Famers were ever interviewed together. They enjoyed it. Seeing their smiles and genuine admiration for each other made this rewarding for all of us.
Following the recording, we worked with our social and in-house broadcast production groups to cut together the highlights and post it on Twitter, Instagram as well as sharing with the Tigers and Angels TV rights holder, and we sent to MLB Network and @ MLB social media. There was great engagement online from both Tigers and Angels fans, which is a win especially for a Tigers club currently in a rebuild
Simple ask, great execution, one that scores for all.
