USA Basketball today announced Jeep as its newest sponsor and the Jeep Wrangler as the official vehicle partner of USA Basketball. Jeep formed a global partnership with USA Basketball to support the men's and women's national teams. Jeep will launch a full advertising and marketing campaign scheduled to begin Saturday featuring Clippers and USA Basketball G Chris Paul. Paul will appear in a series of video vignettes that will give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at various facets of the partnership with USA Basketball (NBA). In N.Y., Tanzina Vega noted Jeep will introduce the '12 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Altitude during the "Power Within" campaign. One of the TV ads featuring Paul will "include a voice-over and music by" rapper Common. Revenue from the partnership will be "used to finance USA Basketball programs, including junior programs for boys and girls." A kickoff party featuring Paul, Common and musician Biz Markie was held Sunday in L.A. USA Basketball has 10 other sponsors, including AmEx, Gatorade, Nike and Cisco Systems (NYTIMES.com, 4/22).
