Case study content property of Kidzsmart Communications and their respective clients.
At its core, edutainment uses entertainment as a gateway to learning. Think Bill Nye the Science Guy or Mark Rober. Edutainment uses educational concepts while being more relatable, memorable, and engaging for younger audiences.
The Boston Red Sox STEM program applied this philosophy to create a baseball themed STEM program that extended beyond the classroom. Print and digital experiences were aligned with curriculum and connected to the game day experience at a Red Sox game, while supporting the team’s youth engagement strategy.
Create an engaging kids club community outreach program for young Red Sox fans that teaches STEM education subjects through baseball.
A print and digital campaign in support of the Red Sox’s commitment to a family-friendly game day experience and seamlessly integrate with the Kids Concourse space and Kid Nation club activations at Fenway Park.
Creative direction, kids brand development, educational strategy, character redesign, digital and print campaign
Creative director, lead designer, illustration, research, and copywriting
The design methodology for the Red Sox Wally’s STEMbook project focused on aligning with curriculum and creating a relational educational experience. The program aimed to seamlessly integrate classroom learning with baseball. Research was conducted to link the content to US curriculum, particularly in Massachusetts and surrounding areas.
A baseball-themed curriculum was developed based on Newton’s Laws of Motion resulting in a comprehensive program exploring STEM subjects through a baseball lens.
Game day experience at Fenway Park taken into account as a means to connect to STEM subjects concepts to game-day observation and activities. The result was an engaging STEM program embraced by young Red Sox fans, blending science and critical thinking with the excitement of their favourite sport.
To engage a new generation of fans, I reimagined the kids’ program with updated characters, a baseball themed STEM workbook, and an interactive digital experience featuring games, trivia, and behind the scenes stories from players and Fenway Park. The program also extended beyond game day through downloadable activities that kept young fans learning and connected at home and in the classroom.
The program gained traction with local educational centers, museums, and schools due to its curriculum alignment and accessibility to STEM. The Red Sox organization continues to use iterations of the program in partnership with these institutions to this day. From a marketing standpoint, my team’s work was well-received, as evidenced by the positive client testimonial. I am proud of our accomplishments at Kidzsmart Communications and grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the Boston Red Sox’s fantastic organization and front office team.
“Major League Baseball, over the past few years, has recognized the importance of marketing our brand to today’s youth in an effort to bolster the sport’s popularity as competition in the sports/entertainment industry becomes increasingly competitive.
To meet these goals, the Red Sox organization has revamped our Kid Nation fan club program and implemented our new “Calling All Kids” initiative. This includes redesigns and rebranding of locations within Fenway Park as well as a heavy push through print and digital media. Kidzsmart has been an integral part of this effort. Through a collaborative effort between the Red Sox marketing department and the folks at Kidzsmart, we have been able to create great new content through our Kid Nation Newsletter email blasts and physical activity books. This content has been extremely helpful in capturing young fans’ attention and exposing them to America’s pastime. Content-wise, we’ve covered everything from activities, player profiles, collectible posters, and STEM reasoning and problem solving puzzles to engage kids and make the game more relatable to them.
I believe the efforts from this partnership have been very successful and have added value to our Fan Clubs memberships while also helping us on the way to accomplishing our broader organizational goals.”
— Boston Red Sox Fan & Youth Engagement