BYLINE: Barry Janoff
SECTION: NEWS AND FEATURES; PROMOTION
LENGTH: 790 words
The start of the 2008-09 NBA season will come with a lot of support from league marketing partners, but perhaps none so extensive as adidas' "NBA tested. Brotherhood ready" campaign.
Adidas, the NBA's official footwear and apparel partner, will call on all its heavy hitters to tout the campaign, which in turn supports the launch of adidas' Team Signature Commander and Team Signature Creator basketball shoes. Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Chauncey Billups and Gilbert Arenas will star in a global effort to include TV, print, wireless and outdoor breaking this week, all of which will drive consumers to a Web site, www.adidasbasketball.com. There, visitors can watch a multipart film series that follows the aforementioned NBA all-stars as they work with a dozen young players from the U.S. and China to teach them NBA-level moves and motivations.
Spend for the effort was not disclosed but is expected to be adidas' biggest footwear launch of the year. The Portland, Ore.-based company spent $20.4 million of its $41 million media budget (not including online) on footwear in 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Lead agency is 180, Los Angeles. Adidas' tag remains "Impossible is nothing" and its hoops-related umbrella theme is still "Basketball is a brotherhood."
As many at 12 teaser spots will be seeded during NBA broadcasts on ESPN and TBS; print will hit basketball-centric magazines including Slam, Dime and Bounce. The teaser spots show the NBA stars interacting with each other and with the 12 young players in a basketball camp setting. A tag directs people to the Web site and the long-form films.
The films follow Garnett, McGrady and the others as they share tips not only on how to play basketball but also how to conduct themselves off the court. The effort is a cross-county adventure, with Arenas schooling the young athletes on his home court in Washington, Howard teaching them in Orlando, Fla., McGrady sharing skills in Houston and Garnett hitting the court in Boston. The finale is a game pitting the pros against their students.
The films also follow the players as they bond between games. In one conversation, Howard tells Garnett, "They don't call me Dwight anymore. Everyone calls me Superman," referring to a nickname given to him because of his soaring dunks. Replies Garnett with a straight face, "I'm going to call you Dwight." Later, after the players have worked up a sweat in a pick-up game, Garnett says to the group, "Are you hungry? Lunch is on Superman."
Print extends the "Brotherhood" theme: In one version, Garnett offers, "The more I can dominate, the more we can celebrate." In his print ad, McGrady says, "A faster me for a faster we."
"The idea is to take these all-stars off the pedestal and show people how they are just like you and me," said Lawrence Norman, vp-global basketball at adidas. "We have guys like KG, T-Mac, Duncan, who really relate to kids and who are honest about their love of the game."
MSRP for both the TS Commander and TS Signature shoes is $100. In 2007, sales of athletic footwear topped $17 billion for the first time and are expected to surpass $17.7 billion in 2008, according to the National Sporting Goods Assn. in Mount Prospect, Ill.
Kia-NBA Get It Started
Kia Motors, Irvine, Calif., which signed a multiyear alliance with the NBA this past January to become the league's official automotive partner, will support the opening of the 2008-09 season with a series of broadcast, Internet, retail and experiential events that will encompass all league markets.
"NBA Tip-Off Week presented by Kia Motors" (Oct. 28-Nov. 3) will feature on-air presence on ESPN; online presence at Kia.com and NBA.com; and onsite presence in every NBA market, including street teams distributing co-branded merchandise and handouts promoting an online NBA Tip-Off Sweepstakes presented by Kia Motors with such prizes as a trip to an NBA playoff game.
In New York, where the Knicks are one of 16 teams that have partnerships with Kia, the car company and the NBA will take over Union Square on Oct. 28 with an all-day fan-centric event that will include such Knicks' legends as Walt Frazier and John Starks and celebs such as Spike Lee. Support also includes POP at all 640 Kia dealers nationwide.
"Kia is taking our opening week to a new level," said Mark Tatum, svp-marketing partnerships at the NBA, New York. "This will engage fans across all of our media assets."
According to Tatum, Kia's alliance with the NBA is a great way for the car company to promote itself during a tough economy in which the auto category has been hit hard. "Kia is reaching fans with a positive message, and driving consumers to their dealers. It's a win-win situation for Kia and the NBA."
Ariel Tredway
