Bob Muzikowski became a huge media story when, on his own dime, he reached out to inner city kids through the development of
the largest inner city
little baseball leagues ever established both in New York and
in Chicago. When Muzikowski's story began to make it to the mainstream media, his story was so inspiring that Harper Collins decided to publish his biography. Shortly thereafter, Paramount Pictures decided to distribute Hardball, starring Keanu Reeves, which was loosely based on the book.
Zondervan, the Christian publishing arm of Harper Collins, asked to devise a book campaign that would capitalize on the release of the movie immediately around the theaters in the Chicago area that were premiering the move.
Our strategy focused on the unique part of the story that made this relevant to Chicago: the Near North Little League is like an oasis in the desert for kids who in many cases would never pick up a baseball glove were it not for Muzikowski. We used photography of the actual kids and ball fields, and wrote big, clean headlines that were designed to grab attention and bring an immediate, emotional reaction.
Three different ads were created, and each were played on theatre screens prior to the premiere of the movie. We also created print ads that ran in Chicago magazines and newspapers, in part to boost free media coverage. This strategy became especially important as the movie neared release, because the movie's producers took, shall we say, considerable creative license in how they portrayed Muzikowski's personal live.
The campaign had a massive impact on the book's initial retail sales, which is critical to the long term shelf life of books of this genre. To view all three ads in the campaign, click on an image below.