According to Greer, Rodríguez’s only media training comes from social media and personal brand pillars he’s developed. He sees brand partnerships as a means of taking care of his family and the people of his hometown of Loma de Cabrera. He uses them to provide inspiration for young people by telling them to never settle, never give up and never let anyone set your limits—values he derives from both his personal background and his love of anime.
The J-ROD SHOWCASE
On-field brands:
- Adidas – multiyear partnership to become the face of Adidas baseball.
- Oakley – one of two MLB Players under contract with Oakley (Francisco Lindor).
- Victus – began selling the “JRODSHOW” model bat prior to MLB Debut.
- Wilson – face of the newest glove model the 1810. First player to wear this model, created for Julio
- Evo Shield.
- VKTRY.
Off-field Brands:
- T-Mobile – only current active MLB player partnership. Nationally televised commercial.
- Alaska Air – only current active athlete partne.
- Gatorade – joined Bryce Harper and Francisco Lindor as national MLB partners
- EA Sports – cover of EA Sports 2023 MLB Tap Sports Baseball. EA’s first baseball game in over a decade
- JuliO’s Cereal – (hosted by PLB Sports).
- Fanatics – exclusive memorabilia partner.
- Topps – cover of 2023 Topps Series 1 product featuring 3 national commercials using the “J-Rod Show.”
- Sorare – one of two national MLB player partners (Juan Soto).
- Dynasty Financial Partners – equity partnership.
- Hyatt (A Seattle Collection) – local partnership with the 3 downtown Seattle Hyatt hotels.
A spot in the lineup
Rodríguez’ commitment and comfort with the camera still stands out to Eric Edge, Alaska Airlines’ managing director of advertising and marketing, When Edge first arrived at Alaska the end of Rodríguez’s rookie season in October 2022, he started thinking about how to get him more involved with the brand by Spring Training.
The airline’s marketers built flights with 44 home-run promotions around Rodríguez’s uniform number, giving flight vouchers to 44 people sitting in sections where Julio Rodriguez hit home runs. That’s 444 vouchers for Rodríguez’s 11 qualifying home runs at T-Mobile Park this season. Alaska also made him the face of their Visa card campaign.
“The extension of the partnership to really drive that fan engagement is key.” Edge said. “You see us really bring it to life on social as we expand into the credit card—there’s just so many ways to have more of a 360 relationship with Julio that was truly authentic to the brand.”
Gatorade signed Rodríguez just before All-Star Week, adding him to a lineup of endorsers that already included Michael Jordan, Serena Williams and Peyton Manning. While taken with Rodriguez’s “contagious energy” and on-field performance, Gatorade is also committing resources from its Equity in Sport initiative to Rodríguez’s baseball programs for underprivileged youth in Seattle and the Dominican Republic.
