Baseball dreams: when New York art dealer and baseball aficionado Jeffrey Loria bought the Marlins last year, South Florida fans had all but abandoned the team. Now Loria is not only rebuilding a roster of solid players, he is also reconstructing the team's relationship with its home base. Will the fans play ball?

South Florida CEO, April, 2003 by Jeff Zbar

But that's not what people see--the owner cutting up with his players, as much a fan as any paying spectator. Instead, the press and public took pot shots at the team last year for not marketing the product. What was there to market, Samson asks? By the time new management arrived, it was too late to even create opening day programs. No ads were on the airwaves; the team even ran out of hot-dogs on opening day.

Not this year. Management has taken the team on the road. The caravan made appearances at Little Havana's Calle Ocho and the Doral golf tournament. The team stocked up on 30,000 hotdogs to give away free on opening day.

They're even having some fun. Thousands of Ryan Dempster bobblehead dolls sit in storage, ordered just before the team traded the pitcher to the Cincinnati Reds. So the team will hold "Ryan Dempster Bobblehead Doll Day" when the Reds come to town in May. The next day, they'll hold Juan Encarnacion glove day--for the player the team picked up in the Dempster trade.

"When you have time to have an off season, you have time to plan and execute," Samson says.

Michael Goldberg sees the fun. The team's account rep at Zimmerman & Partners Advertising, Goldberg is working with Loria, Samson and team marketing VP Sean Flynn to create a campaign that, hopefully, will rekindle the flame that fan and team once shared. The latest ads speak of the team's revival. "Get back in the game," the campaign begs. The $2.5 million effort will range from TV and radio spots to print and billboard ads to dorsal fins strapped to the tops of cabs.

The message promotes the points important to Loria--speed, passion, youth and intensity. One billboard ad sports the image of a pitched baseball burning the board in half. A TV spot shows Marlins pitchers demolishing opposing team bobblehead dolls. "It's pretty simple," Goldberg says. "The mandate is to reinvent the brand to create a love affair with this market."

The marketing goes beyond advertising. One of the wilder promotions is the sponsorship by Budweiser and Sunshine Pools of three, eight-person hot tubs in the stadium. Actually, they will not be hot tubs, per se, but large tubs filled with cool water and perched in a tropical, beach-like setting behind the home-team bullpen. More down to earth, "Ambassadors" will greet and thank fans at the gates before and after each game. And each week, Samson's schedule includes speaking events before local business and civic groups, spreading the word that Marlins' management is serious about success. "We're trying to win fans one at a time," Samson says.

Because the team has a roster of young players who are shy--if not unknowing--of the media, the team hired RBB Public Relations to handle their interaction with the public and press. The firm immediately set up media training for all the players. Attendance hit 100 percent. "It was very well received," says RBB partner Ed Gilhuly.

The public relations push is already paying off. February's Fan Fest at Pro Player Stadium drew more than 10,000 people. The team now has a slick season-ticket brochure featuring fan reward programs. After being stagnant for a year, "they're being visible," says one local sports writer. "The questions now are much more about baseball than if the team is staying."