(*UOnline is a proud partner of Front Office Sports)

When a sports team undergoes a major overhaul, building a strong marketing presence becomes a high priority. In the Miami Marlins’ case, much of this relies on Elisa Padilla, senior vice president of marketing and community relations.

Padilla, who also spearheaded another major brand shift when the Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn, sat down with Adam White to discuss the Marlins’ renewed presence in the community and renewed dedication to building relationships with fans.

Edited Highlights Appear Below:

On launching the new Marlins’ brand (0:33)

Padilla: “When I came in, the logo, color palette, jerseys, everything was already designed. My job when I came in was to think through how we were going to launch the brand. One of the things that’s really important to us is that we infuse the fabric of this brand into the community. We put together a comprehensive 360 marketing campaign because the day that we launched this new brand, our goal was to be where people live, work and play.”

SEE MORE: Adam Jones on the Miami Marlins’ New Direction

On making the Marlins feel like a hometown team with a high transplant population (2:35)

Padilla: “I think that when you look at Miami and you look at the diversity and the richness that’s here and when you look at our new logo and our new brand positioning, we want to be one with the community. We want to be one with the city. Our colores is about us – not us meaning the Miami Marlins. It’s about us – Miami as a community because you live those colors every single day…We want to be more than just your baseball team. We want to be a place where you can come and you can enjoy a night out of entertainment and we want to become part of your lifestyle…From the brand and the launch and what we’ve done to date, we’re on track.”

On building trust between the organization and fans (5:05)

Padilla: “We have to demonstrate and be authentic in our approach. If part of our mission statement is to infuse the fabric of our brand into the community, we need to demonstrate that. So just a couple quick examples, one is the art program where we did seven murals in key locations, so we were very diligent about that process. We know how street art is very prevalent here in Miami. The day after we launched on November 16th we did ‘Surprise and Delight’. From eight o’clock in the morning all the way through to three o’clock in the afternoon, we had players and alumni and executives out in key communities serving coffee, handing out ball caps with the new logo, being part of their every day lives. That’s how we’re going to earn the community’s trust.”

On the community relations side since she arrived nine months ago (6:30)

Padilla: “I think that the one thing that we’re all passionate about is building this brand from the ground up, and doing it the right way from a grass-roots level perspective…We created a youth baseball and softball department whose sole purpose is to promote youth baseball and softball in Miami…We were in a meeting and we started talking about tee ball. Why don’t we own tee ball? Let’s go out there, sign up tee ball teams and we will outfit them from head to toe. The team was charged with signing up 100 tee ball teams. They overproduced, so we have 136 teams that are Miami Marlins and it’s been the greatest thing. “

(*UOnline is a proud partner of Front Office Sports)

Miami, Florida is anything but an ordinary city. The Miami Marlins have recently taken a number of steps to help them fall more in line with the spirit of the city that they call home.

Marlins’ Chief Revenue Officer Adam Jones joined Front Office Sports CEO Adam White to chat about the organization’s recent visual rebrand, engaging new brand partners, and attracting a new generation of baseball fans to Marlins Park.

Edited highlights appear below:

On the Marlins’ visual rebrand throughout the stadium (1:33):

Jones: “That gave us the opportunity to bring that brand into the venue. Do a reset on the color pallet, what you saw on the concourses, what you saw in the bowl. We’ve standardized that view. Cleaned it up. I think that brought down some stress levels from people who were experiencing and viewing our game and really allowed us to let our brand and our brand partners shine through within the look and feel of the venue.”

SEE MORE: Shot Callers: Inside The Rebranding of Dignity Health Sports Park With AEG

On a revitalized partnership strategy (3:02):

Jones: “It started day one with making introductions and reintroductions. That’s probably one of the biggest surprises as to how many first time introductions we’re making within the brand community. 50 plus new partners since the ownership/leadership changed. David Oxfeld and his team on the partnership side have done a great job reengaging locally, nationally, and internationally with brands that we believe align with our story and where we are taking the organization.”

On changing the food options with a hyper local approach (6:25):

Jones: “One of our brand tenants is we want to be authentically Miami and I think that extends well beyond the food and beverage, but as it relates to food and beverage, that’s a heavier lift here than it may be elsewhere of representing the diversity of culinary [options] that’s here…We wanted to expand what was previously known as Taste of Miami and make the entire ballpark that experience and really try to represent what we believe today is modern or for the future of this community more so than how outsiders may view this community and be truly authentic to our fan, to our residents, and to the business partners.”

SEE MORE: Shot Callers: Mike Nichols on the Symetra Tour’s Rapid Growth

On improving the premium areas of Marlins Park (7:53):

Jones: “The anchor in a ballpark is the premium club behind home plate. We had the opportunity to get back into that space eight years in and where we feel we’ve reset the standard is giving the an all-inclusive, elevated fairly robust menu in-seat. A lot of infrastructure went into creating beverage and food kitchens to support that new in-seat model. But one we’re very pleased with in terms of the type of elevated experience we’ve created there.”

(*ISM Connect is a proud partner of Front Office Sports)

Episode 1 | Episode 2

In the third episode of Logo Love, Jason Klein and Casey White of Brandiose Studios discuss in detail their own creative processes for designing Minor League Baseball logos.

Simplicity is often preached as a key tenant in design. Yet the simplest design isn’t always the most effective. It’s all about telling the most authentic story possible for a Minor League team. Sometimes that means taking several different elements and combining them in a way that makes sense for storytelling, merchandising and representing a town or city.

Edited highlights appear below:

On the nature of creativity (0:10)

White: “Every project that we do…starts with research. I think there’s this myth that creative people people just sort of pull [inspiration] out of the sky. Creativity is how you digest the world, how you process the world. If we’re going to tell these stories in an authentic way, we have to have a healthy diet of information. We have to physically go, we have to talk to experts, we have to be guided by people who really know what they’re talking about. Every project has that foundation.”

SEE MORE: Logo Love Episode One: Logo History

How designing sports logos differs from designing other types of logos (1:34)

White: “Designing a sports logo is not like designing a corporate logo. It’s not about super simple and clean, or how do we ratchet down something to this very simple, pristine thing? It’s telling a story. It’s somewhere between illustration and logo. It has to still work as a Twitter icon and look good on a hat from 50 yards, but it also need to tell a really complex story. There’s a lot of elements that we want to bring in.”

On getting ideas down in their own creative process (3:03)

White: “We’re always trying to improve our process. We’re trying to stay relevant and keep things fresh. That includes how we conceptualize the designs. We started out sketching… drawing is my favorite thing in the world. That’s why I love my job. We’ve tried to draw on iPads, draw on the computer, we’ve tried a thousand different things… It all goes back to pencil and paper. The pencil and paper is the best way to quickly get your ideas down and to quickly explore what’s going to look best.”

SEE MORE: Logo Love Episode Two: Evolution of Brand

On avoiding making logo designs too complex (4:44)

Klein: “From a technical standpoint, you have to merge a lot of other elements often into a logo. A trash can lid and a calculator and a raccoon tail… how do you get all of these elements in without it looking like a painting?”

White: “That’s the challenge. How do we distill it down? How do you arrange everything? There is a flower arrangement element to the logo design. There are limitations. We run into limitations all the time where you have this crazy idea, and it’s just too much or it just doesn’t work. You have to have that balance.”