In years past, the Miami Marlins have often felt like they were in a transitional period, but under new ownership, that tune is about to change.
The team seemed to tear things down this offseason as the front office is going to build a new team, culture and identity for the franchise and they're starting from the ground up. A lot of stars exited the team this offseason, but a lot have already joined the team for this year as well, only they won't be playing in the game.
The most well-known of the names taking his talents to South Beach will be DJ Khaled, who will perform a new team anthem called "Just Getting Started" on opening day.
Khaled might be the marquee name on this roster of musical talent, but the pieces are all there for a big hit. Khaled collaborated with Nicky Jam, Kent Jones, Poo Bear and Jared Gustadt on the track.
All of them bring different assets to the table, but they're a team that may help set a template for future game-changing lineups in the future.
This collection of musicians was assembled to help the Marlins build a new culture and re-brand the organization, off the field first. The Marlins were in a position that Canadians may be familiar with and that's with star players continually leaving town and the team being stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.
The Toronto Raptors had that problem for years and while many will look at the best roster the team has assembled and rightfully credit them with the team's success -- most will also remember when the tide seemed to turn: right around when another famous musician showed up to support his hometown team. Drake's involvment with the Raptors and the We the North movement was part of one of the most successful brand strategies in sports that may have just scratched the surface.
The next chapter in this form of sports marketing might already be written and leading the charge is baseball's master of off-the-field image, Derek Jeter.
It didn't take long for Jeter to make major changes with the Marlins and one that he hopes will be among the biggest started with a series of meetings between himself, his executive team and Jingle Punks' Jesse Korwin and Jared Gustadt. Gustadt, the CCO and President of Jingle Punks told us himself that Jeter's message was very clear from the beginning.
"Look, I'm re-branding this team from the ground up. Here's the idea: I want a song like Despacito that grabs the energy of the city -- being pop, Latin and urban".
That's a pretty tall order of any musician. The ask is basically to recreate the most popular song of 2017, but luckily, he had a secret weapon. Gustadt explained that Poo Bear quietly chimed in "I wrote that song."
Check his Wikipedia if you don't believe him, Poo Bear could be considered the greatest songwriter of this generation when you read the list of tracks he's helped create. He also happens to frequent as a stage partner with Gustadt, so they seemed like the perfect match to start what would be the Miami Marlins new anthem, which will be performed on Opening Day in Miami.
Just like Drake seems to connect to Toronto's culture through Toronto sports team, this song should connect the Marlins to the people of Miami.
With a rough draft already laid down, Gudstadt was feeling pretty happy with their creation with Poo Bear to inquestionably tie the anthem to Miami, "He goes and gets Nicky Jam, who is easily one of the biggest Latin artists in the world right now, then grabs Kent Jones who has been a mainstay in Miami as a very influential writer and hit maker".
So, will it be a hit? Korwin, the SVP of Business Development for Jingle Punks, certainly hoped it would be after speaking to Jeter himself, "he leans in and says, 'Just so you know, I'm betting on this', so that's pretty daunting." So Korwin called up Jared afterword and just said "I believe in you. I've known you for almost 20 years, but I really hope you and [Poo Bear] deliver on this one." And according to him, they did.
While there are similar examples of a team's ability to connect to a city through it's stars outside of the game, this will be one of the first with a music-first approach.
If it works as well as they think it will, Jared says it should only be the beginning:
"It was a chance to combine the ideas of songs like 'Ok Blue Jays' and 'Go Knicks Go' with concepts like Drake's re-brand with the Raptors. This will open up, for us, a huge new window to make artists and writers the marketers of sport... It starts with baseball and it starts with this DJ Khaled jam, but I think this is the beginning of Jingle Punks Presents and we're #JustGettingStarted".
