Each season, the Chicago Cubs launch a campaign designed to drive ticket sales across the city, digital channels, and in-stadium media. The objective is simple but demanding: put people in the seats at Wrigley Field. Their new one for 2026, created by Christopher A. Ritter with Co-Creative Directors Kent Carmichael, Peter Carnevale, and Scott Serilla, is simply [THIS].
When the club unveiled the slogan ahead of the 2026 season, the reaction immediate and mixed. Critics called it uninspired, boring, and generic, while fans pushed back against the new motto on social media.
But the campaign centers on a truth unique to Cubs baseball: fans return not just for the game, but for the shared moments that surround it. Walking through the tunnel. The first glimpse of Wrigley field. The wind, the ivy, strangers becoming friends.
[THIS] becomes a flexible declaration that allows fans to complete the sentence with their own memories, transforming ticket promotion into an invitation to belong. By shifting focus from the game to the experience around it, the platform invites both lifelong fans and newcomers to be part of something uniquely Chicago.
Handcrafted paint gestures transform photography into manifestations of feeling, giving physical form to the electricity of Wrigley Field. Combined with cinematic imagery, custom typography, and a distinctive color system, the visuals balance authenticity with myth, creating a flexible language that feels tactile, atmospheric, and unmistakably Cubs.
