NBA 2K18 Ad Focuses On New Game Feature That Lets Users Explore Outside Arena

Ten NBA stars "pop up around an otherwise typical city neighborhood" in CP+B, L.A.'s "fun launch film" for NBA 2K18, which drops Sept. 19, according to David Gianatasio of ADWEEK. The spot "promotes the 2K Sports franchise’s new 'Open World' feature, which lets gamers explore different aspects of the broader basketball experience, including visiting various local haunts." The spot features Nets G D’Angelo Russell, Thunder F Paul George, 76ers C Joel Embiid, Cavaliers G Isaiah Thomas, Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard, Basketball HOFer Bill Walton, Raptors G DeMar DeRozan, Suns G Devin Booker, T'Wolves C Karl-Anthony Towns and Celtics G Kyrie Irving. CP+B Creative Dir Barnaby Blackburn said, "We liked the idea of this perfect basketball neighborhood, a place with all the venues you’d expect to find in an everyday neighborhood and with all the regulars you’d expect to bump into. The difference being that these regulars, from the barber to the tattoo-shop owner to the guy playing cards on the steps, are NBA superstars, and that everything in this neighborhood exists to serve basketball." The spot was filmed over two days in South Central L.A. and Long Beach in June. Gianatasio wrote this "marks another notable marketing push for the NBA 2K franchise from CP+B, following its work for NBA 2K17, which featured a Fitbit tie-in encouraging gamers to get more exercise" (ADWEEK.com, 9/11).