The B-Side: From Conversation To A Collective Act of Trust
When Visit Baltimore set out to build a regional pride campaign, the goal wasn’t to rewrite Baltimore’s story. It was to unlock the one that already existed.
Beneath the headlines and stereotypes, there’s a deep, unshakable pride among the people who call the city home. The challenge was finding a way to bring that pride to the surface in a way that felt honest, lived-in, and unmistakably Baltimore.
“There was already so much pride here. The question wasn’t how to create it. It was how to give people permission to express it.” – Shelby Cormier, SPARK
Flipping the record
The idea became The B-Side of Baltimore. A simple but powerful metaphor. Every city has a side that gets played over and over, and another side that only reveals itself if you’re willing to listen a little closer.
The B-Side invited locals to flip the record and amplify the sounds, stories, and spirit of the Baltimore they know and love. At the center of the campaign was a custom, original piece of music. Not music inspired by Baltimore, but music created by the artists and the soundscapes within it. In partnership with Syn, SPARK helped bring together local musicians to co-create a singular sound that reflected the city’s complexity, grit, pride, and joy. We also integrated field recordings of iconic Baltimore sounds. That track became the emotional backbone of the campaign and a symbol residents could truly claim as their own.
“This wasn’t about finding the right song. It was about letting the city write its own.” – Michael Higgins, SPARK
An idea born from conversation
What makes this campaign especially meaningful is that it didn’t start with a brief. It started with a conversation.
In January 2025, Syn came to SPARK’s offices for a casual meet-and-greet with a fellow Worldwide Partners agency. As Syn shared their approach to music and sound, building work rooted in emotion and culture, the conversation naturally drifted toward Baltimore.
SPARK had been wrestling with a familiar frustration. No matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t find music that truly captured the spirit of the city. Stock tracks always felt close, but never quite right. That shared frustration sparked an idea.
“We kept saying, ‘Why doesn’t this sound like Baltimore?’ And at some point it clicked. Maybe the problem was that it wasn’t coming from Baltimore at all.” – Elliott Bedinghaus, SPARK
At the time, it was just an exciting what-if. There wasn’t a clear client moment to introduce it. But when Visit Baltimore’s regional pride campaign took shape, the idea finally had a place to land. We pitched music not as a layer, but as the idea itself. That’s when the collaboration with Syn truly began.
It’s a clear example of why simply meeting other WPI agencies matters. You never know which conversation is going to turn into something real.
“If we hadn’t taken that meeting, this campaign wouldn’t exist. It really was that simple.” – Dulani Porter, SPARK
A different kind of collaboration
It goes without saying that collaboration with the Visit Baltimore team has been a core tenet of what makes our agency-client relationship so strong. We built a partnership grounded in transparency and trust, having honest discussions about the challenges and incredible potential ahead for the destination. Over the last three years, we’ve only strengthened that trust in our process through the challenges we’ve navigated and successes we’ve delivered together.
Bringing in a new partner meant the Visit Baltimore team had to take a big leap of faith in SPARK, in Syn and our collective process. And for that, we are incredibly grateful for the trust they placed in us and their patience in traversing this process with us.
Designing a process without a blueprint
From the start, we knew this wouldn’t follow a traditional production model. We weren’t commissioning a song. We were building a process. Together with Syn, we designed an approach rooted in listening first. We identified a wide range of Baltimore musicians across genres, jazz, hip-hop, classical, Baltimore Club, indie, and invited them into the process not as contributors, but as co-authors.
The workshop was the turning point. It was also the most emotionally charged moment.
Bringing local artists together and asking them to trust an outside team came with real skepticism. There were hard questions. Why us? Why now? Who gets to decide what Baltimore sounds like?
“The skepticism was real. And honestly, it should have been. That tension meant people cared.” – Benji Compston, Syn
Rather than pushing past it, we leaned into it. The pushback wasn’t resistance. It was pride. And respecting that pride became the foundation for everything that followed.
SPARK and Syn positioned ourselves not as directors, but as orchestrators. Our role was to create space, connect voices, and help individual contributions come together into something cohesive without flattening what made each one distinct.
“Our job wasn’t to tell them what Baltimore was. Our job was to listen long enough to hear it ourselves.” – Michael Higgins, SPARK
Letting go and trusting what came back
After the workshop, there was nothing left to do but wait.
There were no guarantees. Visit Baltimore was trusting a process without knowing what the final output would sound like. Internally, we were all holding our breath.
Then the demos arrived.
What came back was far beyond expectations. Not sketches. Not placeholders. Fully realized, emotionally rich pieces of music. The artists didn’t phone it in. They showed up fully, collaborating with each other and pushing creatively.
“When the demos came in, it was one of those moments where you just exhale and think, ‘Okay. This is why we trusted the process.’” – Antonio David, Syn
Syn then took on the delicate work of weaving those pieces together, preserving the individuality of each contribution while creating a unified track that felt whole.
When the final piece landed, there was no question. This was Baltimore. Complex. Proud. Layered. Alive.
Why it mattered beyond the work
For everyone involved, this campaign carried weight. We weren’t just creating marketing. We were being trusted with a piece of a community’s identity. As outsiders, that responsibility was never taken lightly.
Seeing the artists proud of what they created. Watching the client move from anxiety to relief. Knowing the city had something it could genuinely stand behind. That’s the kind of work that stays with you.
“Being welcomed into that process was humbling. You don’t get opportunities like that very often.” – Benji Compston, Syn
What will stay with all of us
The B-Side of Baltimore exists because two agencies took the time to meet, talk, and stay curious.
Because open conversations, without an agenda, can spark meaningful ideas. Because real collaboration means treating partners as extensions of your team. And because our belief in collaboration isn’t just a philosophy. It’s a multiplier.
“This is what happens when trust leads and ego steps aside.” – Dulani Porter, SPARK
This wasn’t just a campaign. It was collaboration in its truest form, and a reminder of what’s possible when we build together.
