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Phillies Debut New Ad Patch

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As I first reported yesterday, the Phillies have now joined 21 other MLB clubs in adding an ad to their jersey sleeve.

In what now seems to be de rigueur, the Phillies aren’t shy about sullying the sanctity of their jersey, and have actually released a hype video praising their relationship with IBX (Independence Blue Cross), their new “partner”. They even hired HOFer Mike Schmidt to narrate it.

Here are some photos of how it will look on the home pins:

If you watched the hype video till the end, the ad was briefly shown on the sleeves of each of the team’s jerseys.

Looks like the ad will be in the same format across all jerseys — with a changeable border color surrounding a white patch with royal blue lettering.

In addition, this seems like a much larger patch than other teams are wearing (although it still fits into the prescribed maximum dimensions). The “IBX” part of the ad is so big, it can probably be read from the expensive seats. Ugh.

As we’ve said many times over the years, no ad is a good ad, but some are less obtrusive than others. This one definitely was designed to stand out. For the advertiser, that’s a good thing. For folks with eyes — or even uniform observers — it’s most definitely not.

 
  
 
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Comments (29)

    If I honestly typed out my reaction to this, I’d probably get banned, so let me just say these are garbage and look like absolute filth. Oh, and also that I despise Rob Manfred and can’t wait until the day he stops being MLB Commissioner…

    He’s following the will of the 30 owners. So when he retires, they’ll install another commissioner that will do the same things. Might as well stop watching baseball now.

    It’s not like his successor is going to reverse course. These ad patches are generating millions of dollars for the guys who pay the commissioner’s salary. No billionaire is going to give up free revenue.

    Wow. Even uglier and more intrusive than I feared. Congrats again, MLB. You continue to soil your uniforms on a seemingly daily basis.

    Well…that’s subtle.
    Is the IBX lettering the same size as the lettering used for NOB? It’s gotta be close.

    It looks as horrible as I expected it would. And the video I believe makes it appear to clash less than it does. Is it as bad as Toronto or Kansas City? No. But it’s not good.

    I have come to accept sleeve ads as reality. I still am puzzled why teams, who are the client in this business relationship wouldn’t hold the line on having the ad colors work in harmony with the team color palate. To do otherwise for me diminishes the team brand.

    Need a correction: The stitching is different colors for each jersey: link

    The border color is different for the throwbacks (maroon) and city connects (blue). The greys and creams look the same. To my eye, the blue IBX stitching might be different shades for the throwbacks and city connects, but I could be wrong.

    Would be better if it were an IBS patch because that thing is giving me the runs.

    Hey Phil. Let me go out on a limb here, and suggest that from this point forward UniWatch and the UniWatch community ignore any ad news on uniforms. No more articles. No more announcements. No more news stories. If a team adds a uni advertiser, I don’t need to know about it. I don’t need to read about it. I don’t want to read or know about it. Until Rob Manfred gets a big L tattooed to his forehead, I’d rather we just ignore uni advertising altogether.

    By writing an article about the Phillies new uniform advertiser, for example, you’re contributing to the exact result they want…publicity.

    So I suggest you throw this out in a poll to the commUNIty. Let the readers vote. Find out their thoughts:

    Who likes to read about uni advertising on UniWatch, -or- Who would like to see any and all items about uni advertising disappear from UniWatch going from this point forward?

    You know my vote.

    I appreciate the feedback Doug, and in a perfect world, Uni Watch ignoring uniform ads would be great. But this is the real world and these are real things that affect the on-field uniform. And you’ll find UW is the only (or if not only, the rare exception) that calls these things out for what they are: ads. Other media outlets (and there are dozens) who report on this use the teams’ marketspeak and almost laud the Phillies (or whichever team) for their “partnership” or “sponsorship” or some terms that make this seem like it’s a Chico’s Bail Bonds buying uniforms for the Bad News Bears.

    Paul always called out the ads for what they are, and I shall do the same. If you really think UW is “giving pub” to the advertiser, so be it, but to my knowledge that’s never happened and never will. If anything, teams probably hate UW for calling out their bullshit.

    As long as ads continue to be worn on uniforms that are worn on the field, we’ll continue to report on them. Feel free to ignore that (as I’m sure some readers do). But we’re not going to “stop” reporting on uniform-related matters, and ads are a part of that.

    John S. Middleton is a tobacco magnate. Making 2.9 billion in 2007 by selling his stake in the family business most known for “Middleton’s Black & Mild”. He also inherited 15% of the Philles when his dad passed in 1998, later buying enough to get to 48%. He is a nepo-baby who wants to subject fans to ads for sport.

    By the teams own admission revenues are up across the board, in every measurable facet. Ads have invaded the ballpark in even more obtrusive ways in the last year. Concessions prices are through the roof, a new era hat at the ballpark costs an 50 dollars flat.

    I can not say enough how embittered I am about the state of the ballpark experience. I have already ceased going to games due to how abysmal the whole experience is. And now I will stop watching them all together, it may not be for some but ad patches are a clear line in the sand for me. I already stopped watching the Flyers because of it, and they are by far my favorite team.

    I will not be advertised to like this.

    I agree with you, one hundred percent.
    However, I am still shocked that some guy named Daniel (or these rest of you, for that matter), thinks that they are important enough, that their “I will not watch” tantrum effects corporate America.

    I am irrelevant to the Philadelphia Phillies, except when they seek to further monetize my viewership. I (and everyone else) am(are) clearly important enough to be advertised to, otherwise why would these companies be paying for the ad space?

    I am just not going to participate in that, it doesn’t matter whether or not that shows up in any marketing statistics, or hurts their bottom line. These multi-billion dollar companies don’t care about us and I don’t care to participate in the further lining of their pockets.

    I feel like there is still plenty of space above it to bring back the TV/sleeve number

    To borrow a quote from The Deacon (Dennis Hopper) from Waterworld: “It does look like shit!”

    This is just another way to degrade the whole baseball experience. First it’s corporate stadium names, then advertising cluttering the ballpark everywhere, then annoying LED boards all over the place, then hideous city connect uniforms, now it’s uni patches that are ugly. Next thing you know they will tatoo advertising on the players. How about making fans wear advertising patches too. The greed NEVER ends.

    At least moving away from Philly means I don’t have Independence Blue Cross as a health insurance option. . . .

    Most people don’t have options when it comes to their insurance. If they are lucky enough to get coverage benefits through their employer, then that’s who they get. Some people do go through insurance exchanges on a market but this “advertisement” is not going to make my employer ditch Aetna and go IBX. They all suck anyway. This is a few million dollars to burn because they are making ridiculous profits off people who have the audacity to have medical conditions that require care and medications.

    Putting ugly patches on Phillies uniforms will not keep the batter from popping up or grounding out with the bases loaded.

    Sad that the money we pay for “healthcare” goes to waste on advertising, and the fact that it’s sullying baseball uniforms makes it so much worse. Absolutely deplorable.

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