Why the Royals are doing giveaways and going to events for KC’s Hispanic community

Last week, the Guadalupe Centers in Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood hosted its annual Cinco de Mayo festival. Despite some bad weather, the live music and festivities raged on throughout the weekend.

Among the beer, jewelry and aguas frescas booths on Avenida Cesar E. Chavez were the Kansas City Royals, the team that’s not only off to a hot start to the 2024 MLB season, but looking to reconnect with the Hispanic community.

With Royals infield coach José Alguacil at the festival, the team was handing out free tickets and shirts and encouraging fans to follow their rebranded Spanish social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

A few of the players, like outfielder Dairon Blanco, are inspiring classrooms with a heavy Spanish-speaking population at Kansas City Public Schools to keep learning.

It’s all a part of their “Nos Vemos En El K” initiative, with the help from Fresco Marketing, a Kansas City-based multicultural marketing company.

The team gave away 1,000 free tickets to fans during the three-day festival, according to Sinhue Mendoza, Fresco Marketing’s marketing manager.

“We’re incredibly excited to work with Fresco Marketing as we work to further our support of the Hispanic community,” Tony Snethen, vice president of brand innovation for the Royals, said in a statement. “The Royals are such an important part of the community and it’s vital that everyone feels welcome, feels seen, and feels represented, and this partnership is an opportunity to continue fulfilling that promise.”

How did ‘Nos Vemos En El K’ start?

2024 began with the Royals and Fresco Marketing partnering on the season’s pump-up Spanish commercial that ran on Univision for the Super Bowl, but the partnership has been in the works for quite a while, Mendoza said.

At the end of the 2023 MLB season, Mendoza and his team had completed a study involving four focus groups for the Royals — three in Kansas City and one in Omaha — specifically targeting Hispanic people within the region with a primary focus on baseball. They also conducted a survey involving 140 participants from the Hispanic community in the Kansas City area.

Mendoza shared some of their findings:

• Participants in the study and survey were born in countries like the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile.

• Hispanics have a positive view of the Royals’ brand. However, there’s a clear call for inclusivity across all Latino groups, highlighting a need for broader recognition and involvement. “It’s more of a call for we love your team, but we don’t feel you do enough for us beyond Viva Los Reales,” Mendoza said, referring to the Royals’ annual event celebrating Hispanic culture.

• Locals strongly identify with the Royals, presenting an opportunity to cultivate a dedicated fan base.

• Fans prefer “Los Royals” over “Los Reales,” so the team rebranded its Spanish social media accounts to reflect their wants.

• Family and community values emerged as core principles among those surveyed.

• The community loves catcher Salvador Perez. They see an opportunity to promote other Hispanic players on the team, like infielder Maikel Garcia and catcher Freddy Fermín.

The tagline “Nos Vemos En El K” was presented to the Royals by Fresco Marketing, and Scott Lichtenauer, group director of marketing with the team, said it resonated with the team. It’s important for them to make Kauffman Stadium an inclusive and welcoming place for all visitors.

“It’s really important for us to make sure that everybody comes here and sees a part of themselves reflected in everything we do,” Lichtenauer said. “It’s approachable, it’s conversational and it’s saying ‘hey, just come on out to The K.’”

What do the Royals’ outreach efforts look like?

Hispanics make up 10% of the population in the Kansas City metro area, but are only 5% of the Royals’ fan base, according to the study. So the team saw an opportunity to bridge the gap and establish a stronger connection.

Their initiative is ongoing, as they are partnering with Guadalupe Centers to host a six-week baseball and softball summer camp, said Luis Maes, the Royals’ vice president of community impact. Guadalupe Centers’ CEO Beto Lopez threw out the first pitch recently, as has the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City’s consulate Soileh Padilla and Mattie Rhodes Center CEO John Fierro.

They’re continuing to work with community leaders from Mattie Rhodes Center and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which Maes said also helped design the Los Royals jersey that will be available during the Sept. 20 game against the San Francisco Giants for the Viva Los Royals event.

Maes said now they’re trying to calibrate what they’ve learned from the community so they can be more intentional with their outreach so they can grow their Hispanic fandom.

“It’s our goal to grow fandom and grow love for baseball and softball in the city. That takes time,” Lichtenauer said. “It takes considered effort over and over again. You try stuff. Some stuff works and some stuff doesn’t. You be open about it, open to change and learning from your mistakes and learning what works. We’re certainly committed to this.”