MLB helmets will sport a decal advertising European workwear outfitter Strauss this postseason as part of a new, four-year partnership that will also bring the German brand to minor league games beginning in 2025.
MLB carved out the ability to sell postseason helmet sponsorships as part of the 2022 CBA, and it added Zoom logos to helmets during this June’s London Series. Strauss will take over that international game inventory going forward as well. Financial details of the deal were not announced.
Based on a third-party study done by media intelligence firm Hive of the exposure Zoom received in London, the placement could be worth more than $15 million over the course of the playoffs.
Given recent expansion of the postseason, Strauss might be featured in up to 47 national telecasts. Beyond the playoffs, the company said Strauss logos will adorn batting helmets of 120 Minor League Baseball teams starting next year, creating exposure in more than 8,000 minor league games annually.
Engelbert Strauss, a family owned company founded in 1948, has recently been expanding its U.S. presence. The brand opened a flagship store in Venice, Calif., last fall and struck a partnership deal with the Federación Mexicana de Futbol (FMF) in June. Strauss is also the official workwear brand of MLS club LAFC.
Strauss identified baseball as the right platform for its nationwide brand awareness push, seeing an overlap between fans of the sport and traditional buyers of its work clothes and accessories including cleaning tools. It hopes its imminent MiLB exposure—reaching the game day attire of many small-town teams—can help it break through to rural consumers in particular.
“We’re into agriculture and farming and landscaping, so you obviously think of the groundsmen,” Strauss CEO Henning Strauss said in an interview. “There’s a connection and an interesting story to tell.”
The company also found resonance in the helmet placement, since safety equipment falls within its offerings. Strauss hopes to reach consumers who shop online as well as employers looking to outfit their workers.
“We cater to the trades—a wide range of industry, generally small to medium-sized companies,” Henning Strauss said. “We’re doing it because—yes, because it’s supposed to help us grow the business. But it’s also because we are passionate about certain things, like team sports.”
