‘IT’S ON!’ Houston Astros @ Lopez Negrete.

The Houston Astros have retained Lopez Negrete Communications as their lead advertising agency for both the general and Hispanic markets for the 2005 season.

The team’s success last year, along with the re-signing of legendary pitcher Roger Clemens, propelled the Astros to search for a new attitude for the upcoming season. Building on the momentum of last year’s National League Wild Card Championship (delete win) and coming one game shy of the World Series, the agency created the “It’s On!” theme and campaign to generate excitement and evoke a competitive spirit.

“Our challenge each season is to look for new and creative ways to communicate our message of Astros baseball locally and regionally,” said Andrew Huang, Vice President, Marketing. “After the exciting 2004 season, we were looking for something that captured that momentum and set a tone for this season. We were immediately attracted to the It’s On concept created by Lopez Negrete. It’s bold and aggressive and let’s our fans know we are ready to battle our way to the World Series.”

This season the Spanish-speaking Houston community will be cheering, “¡Arrasando!” “¡Arrasando!” which is the Spanish-language equivalent of “It’s On!” Arrasando means “sweeping away with.” This word evokes the daring and energetic attitude this campaign is all about.

We chose Lopez Negrete because of their enthusiasm, their deep understanding of sports marketing and their creative thinking in branding our players and the organization,” said Pam Gardner, Astros President of Business Operations. “The ‘It’s On!’ campaign is simple and captures the team’s competitive, positive attitude,” “It’s also something that our fans can rally around and really own. The way the agency has executed the campaign brings our fans closer to the players and the organization.”

The agency will be creating print ads to run in both English and Spanish-language publications. Lopez Negrete will also be developing on-site signage, banners, wallscapes, English and Spanish-language billboards, English and Spanish-language radio spots and Spanish TV spots. The agency will also create promotional pieces including a 15-month calendar, movie slides, pocket schedules, brochures and ticket designs.

President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer Alex López Negrete is spearheading the creative team of Senior Art Director Guy Kirkland, Senior Spanish Copywriter Manuel Villegas and Senior English Copywriter Doug Kline. Houstonians can already glimpse some of the “It’s On!” creative pieces, as pole banners and signage have recently been positioned in and around Minute Maid Park and billboards in both English and Spanish are up at various locations around Houston.

“It is an honor to be part of the Astros team,” said Alex López Negrete. “As fans ourselves, we believe this campaign captures the passion of the team, the fans and the city. It is an opportunity we are truly excited about — and with the Killer Bs, a healthy Andy Pettitte and (delete-the) Clemens’ leadership, this year It’s On!”