To mark the third year of "Shut Out the Stigma," the Royals shifted focus to youth sports mental health. The campaign centered on a documentary, Not Good Enough, exploring pressure and perfectionism among young athletes. To deepen impact, the team deployed open-letter installations with real quotes from kids and activated players through branded apparel. With no paid media, the campaign drove awareness, donations, and national coverage while supporting behavioral health organizations across Kansas City.
The Kansas City Royals objectives for this campaign were threefold:
When the Royals completed this campaign, it was for Shut Out the Stigma's third year. For the Royals, it was important to fully look at all aspects of mental health — whereas the first two years of the campaign the club really focused on general mental health and awareness. The Royals saw an opportunity to bring awareness to another aspect of mental health — specifically related to youth sports.
According to the National Health Alliance for Youth Sports, 70 percent of children will quit playing their sport by the age of 13. The Royals felt that one reason was that it was no longer fun after observing news story after news story about the toll perfectionism takes on kids' mental health. So, the Royals took the opportunity to showcase those issues in a way that was jarring but also helpful for parents, coaches, and kids.
The Royals target was youth athletes, their parents, their coaches, league administrators, school administrators and anyone interested in continuing to see a thriving youth sports scene across the U.S.
The Royals wanted to create shareable moments for its audience. The letters did that as people came in and out of youth sports complexes — causing them to stop and pay attention.
The documentary provided an unflinching look at what pressure does to youth athletes. Local media helped share the club's message with large pushes and interviews with those involved.
The Royals used its platform to further share the message and build trust. The team also created a teaching platform based on the video that the Royals developmental leagues could share with coaches, parents and administrators.
The Royal's campaign was entirely word of mouth and earned media. Its budget went into creating the content but everything else was organic. The club used its community and Blue KC to share its message. By putting it on digital platforms, it allowed more people to experience it with zero restrictions. And by putting the work in the community, it made it more contextual and more likely that people would experience it in a moment that truly resonated.
A long-form documentary released on YouTube allowed more people access to the content and provided maximum impact — drawing on the long-form consumption of videos on YouTube. Then, the Royal's put its letters in the community, taking a guerilla marketing approach to generating excitement and interest — compelling them to share.
Shut Out the Stigma generated over 68 million impressions from dugout and in-stadium messaging, as well as national coverage with the documentary playing on MLB Network.
The Royals and Blue KC are also supporting Royals charities and other local non-profits specifically focused on behavioral health with this campaign. Thus, Shut Out the Stigma raised awareness for mental health issues and drove donations. Indeed, Blue KC donated money for every shut-out inning the Royals threw raising nearly $90,000 for 14 different behavioral health organizations in the Kansas City area by the end of September 2023.
The awareness generated was off the charts. Its potential reach, including X (formerly Twitter), broadcast, online news, and blogs, was 35.4 million impressions.
The club reached tens of millions of individuals, both within its community of Kansas City and nationally, through television broadcasts and documentary reach. Its goal of raising as much awareness as possible was achieved, with the campaign continuing to reach adults and kids even to this day.
