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Stoudemire Starring In One Of "Encouragement"
Ads Breaking During Christmas Day Games |
The NBA will debut a new ad campaign during its five Christmas Day broadcasts on ABC and ESPN, with "five new spots tied to the league’s vaunted ‘Where Amazing Happens’ branding effort,” according to John Lombardo of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The campaign, tagged “Encouragement,” features 30-second spots “showcasing some of the league’s top stars” -- Warriors G Stephen Curry, Thunder F Kevin Durant, Suns G Steve Nash, Hornets G Chris Paul and Knicks F Amar’e Stoudemire. The Stoudemire and Durant spots “will debut during the NBA’s five Christmas Day broadcasts,” while the Nash, Paul and Curry spots “will roll out in January.” The ads are “documentary-style commercials, with actual footage from each player’s past along with an on-screen actor commenting on the player’s current NBA careers.” In addition to ESPN and ABC, the ads will run on TNT, NBA TV, NBA.com and all of the NBA’s social media outlets "through March, when the NBA begins its postseason ad campaign." No print buy is included. The league also is “adding holiday-themed spots that feature bobbleheads of players from all 30 teams.” Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is the NBA’s agency of record (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/20 issue).
AN EARLY SUPER BOWL: In this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, Terry Lefton reports the NBA's Christmas Day broadcasts have "become a launching pad for ad campaigns, a December-style Super Bowl." T-Mobile is debuting two commercials during the five-game slate, and VP/Advertising Peter DeLuca said, “Christmas makes it more of an event, and our campaign has been so popular, people expect us to top ourselves every time out.” Lefton reports one way T-Mobile is “trying to over-deliver is by adding director Spike Lee to the effective mix” of Heat G Dwyane Wade and TNT's Charles Barkley. Lee will “add star power with a cameo role in one of the ads.” Wade’s spot “shows him accidentally locked in a hotel bathroom.” Seeking a rescue, he posts “Get me out of here” on a social media site, but “his plea is misinterpreted as a trade demand.” Barkley's ad features one of his "verbal jabs" that is the "basis for a music mix that becomes a runaway hit and gains national prominence, via the 4G network" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/20 issue).
DO YOU KNOW, DO YOU KNOW, DO YOU KNOW? ESPN.com's Henry Abbott noted in addition to appearing in the T-Mobile ad alongside Wade, Lee is also directing that spot. Lee, who gained notoriety for playing Mars Blackmon in a series of Nike commercials during the late '80s starring Michael Jordan, said that "making commercials with NBA players is a natural." Lee: "I know them, they are friends. We love each other. They know that I respect them. I'm not going to have them on the set forever. They trust my work. So it's all good." Lee is a noted Knicks fan, and he indicated that players like Wade "see no conflict in working with [him] as a director or a friend, and yet having him root vociferously against their teams" (ESPN.com, 12/22).
