• Client: Cleveland Cavaliers
• Agency: Olson + Co., Minneapolis
• Principals: For the Cleveland Cavaliers: Len Komoroski, president; Tracy Marek, vice president, marketing. For Olson + Co.: Tom Randall, copywriter; Andrea Floren, art director
• Media buy: Regional network and cable
• Summary: The one LeBron spot you probably haven't seen. At lunchtime in Cleveland, Cavs/NBA top draft pick LeBron James, attired in uniform and sneakers, arrives in a downtown park, brings a megaphone to his mouth and advises the noontime noshers to "put down your sandwiches" and go buy tickets, because "the time to see your Cavaliers is now."
Grades
B for overall creative. Casting provided a good mix of people in the crowd, and we believe that simple plus uncluttered equals effective marketing. Such is the case here. Companion ads have the since-traded Darius Miles at a pier and Carlos Boozer at a playground.
A- for use of sports as a marketing vehicle. We're tired of seeing the NBA's wunderkind depicted as a messiah, so it's refreshing to see him marketed in a more approachable manner. After employing his amplified voice to tout tickets, James uses the megaphone to ask one of the startled onlookers, "Where'd you get that tie?"
