Remezcla: How Cultural Storytelling Helped MLB Connect With Latino Audiences

Through the “Baseball Is Another Thing” campaign, Remezcla and Major League Baseball moved beyond statistics to celebrate the cultural roots of Latino players, creating one of MLB’s highest-performing multicultural initiatives.

For generations, baseball has been defined by batting averages, home runs and performance statistics. But for Remezcla and Major League Baseball (MLB), the sport offered an opportunity to tell a different story—one centered on family, community and cultural identity.

That vision gave rise to “Baseball Is Another Thing” (“El béisbol es otra cosa”), a campaign that over the past three years has evolved from a multicultural marketing initiative into a broader cultural platform featuring some of the league’s biggest Latino stars, including Ronald Acuña Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Francisco Lindor.

Speaking with PRODU, Daniel González, Creative Director at Remezcla, explained that the campaign was built around a simple but powerful insight.

“One out of every three Major League Baseball players is Latino,” González said. “That number fluctuates between 31% and 34%, and it’s extraordinary compared to other major American sports leagues. Yet baseball communications weren’t fully leveraging that reality to connect with multicultural audiences.”

Rather than focusing on the sport’s traditional language of statistics and records, the campaign sought to connect with casual fans by highlighting the cultural experiences surrounding the game.

“Baseball is often presented as a game of numbers,” González explained. “But when we looked at everything surrounding the sport, we saw music, family, neighborhoods, food, friendships and cultural pride. Historically, baseball and Latino culture have always been connected.”

From media company to creative partner
Remezcla’s relationship with MLB grew organically. Originally founded as a media platform covering emerging Latino culture in the United States—with editorial operations spanning music, fashion, art and entertainment—the company later expanded into branded content and creative services as more brands sought authentic ways to engage Latino audiences.

After collaborating with companies including Heineken and Tecate, Remezcla began working with MLB on smaller content initiatives before being invited to adapt one of the league’s national campaigns for Latino audiences.

“That’s when everything changed,” González recalled.

Telling the stories behind the stars
The campaign expanded further with “Origin Stories,” a series designed to introduce baseball players not through their athletic achievements but through the personal experiences that shaped them.

“We realized many people didn’t recognize baseball players the same way they recognize athletes like LeBron James or Lionel Messi,” González said. “So instead of showing highlights, we focused on origins.”

The creative approach explored intimate family moments and childhood memories that resonate across Latino communities.

Among them were Fernando Tatis Jr.’s father placing a baseball bat inside his son’s crib, the Acuña brothers’ lifelong sibling rivalries, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s family home becoming a gathering place where players from different teams regularly shared meals.

“Those stories feel universal because they reflect experiences many Latinos recognize from their own families,” González said.

Miniature worlds built from memory
One of the campaign’s most distinctive creative elements was the construction of handcrafted miniature worlds recreating the neighborhoods, kitchens and family homes where players grew up.

Rather than celebrating trophies or championship moments, the installations honored the environments that helped shape each athlete.

“The concept was inspired by the idea of a Hall of Fame,” González explained. “Museums usually display the bat someone used to hit a famous home run or a championship jersey. We asked ourselves: why wait until these players retire? They’re making history right now.”

The detailed recreations were built using interviews, family anecdotes and extensive research to ensure authenticity. “Sometimes the players would ask us, ‘How did you find that story?’ That reaction mattered because we weren’t inventing anything. We were honoring moments that genuinely mattered to them.”

Authenticity beyond representation
According to González, authenticity became the campaign’s guiding principle—from the stories selected to the language used throughout the creative work.

“We use bilingual storytelling, Spanglish, regional references and cultural nuances because that’s how people actually communicate,” he said. “Spanglish only works when it’s written by people who genuinely speak it. We weren’t interested in translating baseball. We wanted to express baseball through the lens of Latino culture.”

That approach also shaped the campaign’s broader creative philosophy.

“Representation alone isn’t enough,” González added. “You have to understand the culture, the emotional truths and the stories behind the audience.”

Building recognition, not just awareness
Beyond its cultural resonance, the campaign also delivered strong business results. According to González, the first year achieved one of the strongest brand performances in MLB’s history, earning an approval score above 86%. The second year improved even further, reaching approximately 90% while significantly outperforming category benchmarks.

Yet for the creative team, audience reactions carried even greater meaning than performance metrics.

“People would comment, ‘That’s my flag,’ ‘That’s how we talk,’ or ‘This made me cry,'” González said. “Those reactions told us we were creating recognition. We wanted people to see themselves in the work, not just consume advertising.”

For González, the campaign ultimately demonstrates that cultural storytelling can create deeper emotional connections than traditional sports marketing.

“The goal isn’t to make everyone say, ‘This is Latino,'” he concluded. “The goal is for every viewer to find a moment that feels familiar. That’s when storytelling becomes meaningful.”