About us
Founder, Jason Klein got his start interning at the Lakers back in the Forum days and then spent fifteen years selling sponsorships for International Speedway Corp, the LA Dodgers, and MLB. Having worked with a wide range of partners across a variety of categories, he recognized a need on the brand side for help managing and leveraging their sponsorships.
In 2010 he launched 88 Marketing based in Los Angeles with a focus on brand consulting across sports, entertainment, and lifestyle sponsorship marketing. Throughout his career he's negotiated over $300 million in deals including naming rights, founding partnerships, jerseys, entitlements, athlete endorsements, and more. He also helped develop countless promotions and activation plans to help bring these sponsorships to life with a strategy first mentality and creative solutions approach.
WHAT'S THE NAME ABOUT?
“In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened”…Vin Scully
88 Marketing is in honor of the 1988 World Series and one of the most memorable moments in baseball history. As a kid in Detroit, Jason watched Kirk Gibson help lead the Tigers to the 1984 championship. He moved to Southern California at age 13 and a couple of years later Gibson signed with the Dodgers as a free agent. In 1988 Gibson lead the Dodgers to the postseason while winning the regular season MVP award in the process. After a tough fought battle with the NY Mets in the NLCS, the Dodgers prevailed and ended up in the World Series against the powerful Oakland A’s. Gibson’s gritty play during the NLCS left him badly injured with a pulled hamstring on one leg and a sprained knee on the other. He was not in the starting lineup for Game 1 on October 15, 1988 and wasn’t likely to play the entire series.
Jason sat in the Top Deck with binoculars in hand. As the game entered the bottom of the 9th inning, the Dodgers trailed 4-3. Dennis Eckersley, baseball’s best closer and future Hall of Famer, took the mound for the A’s. Mike Davis drew a 2 out walk and that is when he saw Gibson limp out of the dugout onto the field to pinch hit. Gibson worked a full count after fouling off pitch after pitch. He could barely move his legs and was in obvious pain. On the seventh pitch, he lunged forward and slapped at Eckersley’s backdoor slider pulling it into the right field bleachers for the game winning homerun. He hobbled around the bases pumping his fists in the air as the crowd went crazy. The crowd stood and cheered for a good 45 minutes before finally leaving the stadium. The Dodgers went on to win the series 4-1 and Gibson didn’t get another at bat.
To this day, besides Jason's wedding and the birth of his son (Derek Gibson Klein), it is one of the best moments of his life.
