After a few bleak years where they mostly played AutoTuned teenybopper music at Target Field, the Twins have been connecting well with the Twin Cities music scene in recent years via their Midwest Music series. Now they've hit a – wait for it! – home run with a new TV commercial that prominently features the Atmosphere song "Sunshine," a fan favorite by Minneapolis' MVP hip-hop group.
"Summertime is almost here," reads the ad, which shows Twins stars Miguel Sanó, Glen Perkins and Brian Dozier rolling around grooving to the tune in a vintage candy-apple-red Ford Fairlane convertible with mascot T.C. Bear in the middle and the equally cuddly Joe Mauer at the wheel. (Insert joke here about one of the other guys needing to be in the driver seat this season).
The commercial is the product of another well-known local music scene figure, filmmaker Dan Huiting, who has helmed eye-catching videos for Bon Iver, Poliça and Trampled by Turtles as well as directed many of TPT Channel 2's music specials. He and Minneapolis ad agency Periscope picked the perfect song in this case, since the commercial aims to hype single-game ticket sales (which start Saturday) with good-timey summer vibes.
Props to Sanó, in particular, for selling the beat with some slick moves. No comment on You Know Who.
