The Chicago Cubs: “Cubs + You = Cubs U”

Anyone with an .edu email address is eligible to sign up for Cubs U, a program that offers super affordable tickets for college students. But Gen Z doesn’t watch baseball, and they have major league commitment issues. So how do we get students to not only learn about Cubs U, but get excited to sign up and go to a game?

By making The Cubs their low-pressure summer situationship.

Agency: Energy BBDO

AT WRIGLEY FIELD…

KEY VISUALS

Our KVs set the tone for the voice and feel of this campaign. We chose a bold, clean style nodding to vintage baseball posters and updated to feel fresh. The copy is playful, tongue-in-cheek, and a little flirtatious - chosen to speak authentically to Gen Z.

EMOJIS & LOGO REVEAL

As part of our visual style, we created a pack of special Cubs emojis that appear in our messaging and which students can download directly to their iPhone. After all, situationships stir up a LOT of emotions.

SMS & INSTAGRAM DMS

To keep the tone consistent across all messaging, we revamped the ticket offers to make them more playful and allowed students to have the Cubs slide into their DMs as well as texts.

OOH

Billboards on or near college campuses showcase the signature texting style of Cubs U to get students excited about engaging with the platform.

SOCIAL ROLLOUT

We carry our messaging style through Instagram ads to showcase how fun and vibey Wrigley Field is and inspire FOMO.

LINKEDIN STALKING

Since students are often celebrating personal milestones on LinkedIn, we targeted keywords to find people moving to Chicago for the summer for work or internships and left personalized comments on their posts inviting them to sign up for Cubs U.

EXCUSE GENERATOR

Need to get out of something to go to the game? Our AI excuse generator allows you to send an obligation you’d rather not attend and get a fun, baseball-related excuse you can use to skip it.

CUBS ON TINDER

Obviously we had to infiltrate the classic situationship dating app. We made a profile using some of the most common dating app tropes that students can actually match and message with to receive a signup link for the program.

VIENNA BEEF COLLAB

We wanted to honor one of the Cubs’ existing situationships with a favorite vendor. Table tents at bars in Wrigleyville offer the perfect idea for a second date.

BASEBALL AND CHILL INSTALLATION

What’s more low-pressure than a night in? Instead of Netflix and chill, we transformed Gallagher Way into a cozy, Instagrammable living room so you can Cubs and Chill before, during, or after the game.