BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles officially released its City Connect campaign this week, featuring new merchandise and jerseys that highlight the people and places of Baltimore.
The campaign includes more faces than just the baseball team, giving fans a glimpse at the new look while showcasing the city's neighborhoods and residents.
"We wanted this to connect with the city in a really meaningful way, so it was important for us to showcase all of the neighborhoods in Baltimore and the people who live in them," Amanda Ozarowski said.
Baltimore Orioles release new City Connect campaign highlighting Baltimoreans and neighborhood culture
"The Orioles took the lead on showing what it could look like when cultures collaborate, they took the lead and showing that the entire league can learn from bridging the gap between the hyper local culture and some of the full-time personnel," Antonio Moore said.
Amanda Ozarowski, vice president of branded content for the Baltimore Orioles, said it was important to emphasize Baltimore because the new merchandise represents the city in a different way than before.
"It’s so quirky and charming and has so much grit and has so much swag and it would’ve been impossible for us to really capture that without keeping it as real as possible," Ozarowski said.
Antonio Moore, known as Lor Tone of The Flip Project LLC, said being part of the campaign was a huge moment.
"And this is like a big win for the city being able to see some of their hometown favorite heroes like an Uncle T like a Lil Mar like a Dr. Baltimore and everyone else that was involved," Moore said.
The advertisement's scenes give people a chance to see Baltimore through a different lens, resonating even with those who may not be baseball fans. Terry Williams, known as Uncle T and CEO of Challenge 2 Change, shared his thoughts on the impact.
"It means everything because again it makes that connection that many people didn’t see you know and I think that this is gonna bring vitality and life into that connection that connection was somewhat, I wouldn’t say invisible, but now that this commercial has come out it’s really showing that look we are ready to bridge this gap if there was one there and we’re ready to bring it into fullness and see all of what could come out of this," Williams said.
The campaign connects different generations, featuring 15-year-old Maurice Brown, known as Lor Mar, as the one to show off the new jersey.
"It felt so amazing being a part of the unveiling of the jersey and just coming into the barbershop and interacting with everyone that felt good. It was really great because they are really digging into the community and bringing people to… they’re bringing faces that people already know," Brown said.
It wasn't just faces people will recognize, but a voice as well. The Orioles' own Fancy Clancy was featured in the project.
"It was also just a nice Easter egg surprise for our fans to see you know that Clancy was the one behind the video," Ozarowski said.
Orioles officials said they are looking forward to creating more ways to show off the beauty of Charm City through baseball.
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