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Marketing and Sponsorship

You're The Piano Man: Kobe Unveils Secret Talent In New Lenovo Ad

Lakers G Kobe Bryant is one of Lenovo’s "main international pitch men" and is featured in the company's "latest advertisement touting their place as the fastest growing mobile brand," according to Brett Pollakoff of NBCSPORTS.com. The spot features Bryant "explaining how the brand always knows how to deliver incredible performance, before he takes to the piano himself to play a portion of Beethoven’s 'Moonlight Sonata.'” It is "arguably one of the worst ways to use an athlete or otherwise famous personality in a promotional spot, because after about 20 seconds it just becomes nothing more than a boring piano recital" (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/23). Bryant earlier this year signed a deal to endorse Lenovo smartphones in China and Southeast Asia (THE DAILY).

SIGN OF THINGS TO COME? Heat F LeBron James in Nike's new commercial celebrating 25 years of the "Just Do It" slogan participates in a slam dunk contest, and ESPN's Skip Bayless said James is "mocking more than he is marketing." James has been "teasing us for years" about participating in the dunk contest at All-Star Game. ESPN's Chris Broussard said James is not "mocking" the contest in his new Nike ad and the "commercial is what it is, they just happened to make it a dunk contest" ("First Take," ESPN2, 8/22).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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