Ellen Hill Zeringue is the vice president of marketing at the Detroit Tigers. She oversees all functions of the club’s marketing and promotions departments, including print and broadcast advertising, Tigers.com, multicultural marketing, promotional giveaways and social media, and she recently added authentics and alumni-player relations to her responsibilities as well. Zeringue manages the club’s branding strategy and was responsible for the launch of the successful “Who’s Your Tiger” campaign, which served as the club’s marketing slogan from 2005-08 and returned in 2011.
Promoted to her current position during the 2008 season after spending the previous six seasons as director of marketing, she originally joined the Tigers as a marketing manager prior to the 2000 season.
Rolling out sat down with the VP during the Negro Leagues Weekend opening luncheon, sponsored by Comerica Bank, to learn more about the annual event that was recently held in Detroit on July 31, 2021, .
What is the Negro League Weekend Celebration and why do we celebrate it?
In Detroit, Negro League Weekend is one of the premiere events every summer for the African American and baseball communities. This is our opportunity to really celebrate our legacy, and every year, it gets bigger and bigger. People try to tell us that baseball doesn’t mean anything to the African American community, but Negro Leagues Weekend proves that we are proud of our history, we’re proud of the young kids that are playing in high school, and we’re especially proud of the players that are on the field. This is our moment. We enjoy it and we celebrate it.
How are the Detroit Tigers involved with community?
We have a really robust community impact team and one of the things we’re focused on is growing the game of baseball and providing educational opportunities for young people. We kicked off this season with the Neighborhood Tour, where we went into two neighborhoods in the city of Detroit, and we provided free food, played games and celebrated to let people know that baseball season was starting.
What we’re doing at the Detroit Tigers is making sure that we are responsible citizens because we are members of the communities. And as members of this community, we have a responsibility to give back. We’re committed. So, we’re going to go back into those communities where we invited neighbors to attend some Tigers games, and then we’re going to go back out into those same communities at the end of the season and we’re going to really celebrate.
Where can we find more information?
You can visit https://www.mlb.com/tigers/community/african-american-heritage
