NBA Players Share Screen In Playoff Marketing Campaign

The NBA Sunday launched a postseason ad campaign called "There Can Only Be One," which will "be featured in 25 ads and include players from all 16 playoff teams," according to John Lombardo of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. NBA Senior VP/Marketing Carol Albert: "It is the most ambitious (playoff) campaign we have ever undertaken." The 30-second spots, via Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, S.F., (GSP) each feature two players from teams meeting in the playoffs. A split screen shows "half  of each player’s face, with their voices synchronized to create a dramatic visual of a single player talking about the playoffs." GSP Creative Dir & Copywriter Jamie Barrett: "We are filming some 50 athletes, and whatever the playoff matchups are, we can respond." Lombardo reports the campaign's first two ads -- one featuring Cavaliers F LeBron James and Celtics F Kevin Garnett, the other with Suns C Shaquille O'Neal and Lakers G Kobe Bryant -- debuted Sunday during ABC's NBA coverage. GSP also created this year's NBA "There Can Only Be One" playoff and Finals campaign. Film directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris directed the playoff spots, which will run on ABC, ESPN and TNT during the remainder of the regular season and throughout the playoffs. A print effort will appear in magazines including Newsweek, Time and Rolling Stone, and there also will be a digital billboard buy in Chicago and L.A. (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/7 issue).

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PLAYOFF PUSH: BRANDWEEK's Barry Janoff reports TNT this week will debut new creative under its theme "40 games in 40 nights," handled in-house. Other marketers also will break spots during the playoffs, including a new Vitaminwater spot, via Berlin Cameron United, N.Y., in which James "goes from basketball court hero to a lawyer in a court of law" (BRANDWEEK, 4/7 issue).