To leverage the retirement of one of its superstar brand ambassadors, Nike Basketball rolled out a multi-platform, multi-market campaign revolving around the theme of love/hate to mark Kobe Bryant’s final game called #MambaDay.
This #MabaDay (13 April) marketing tribute aims to illustrate how hate has manifested into respect and admiration for Bryant.
Aiming to raise awareness of the LA Lakers’ star’s last game with a blended brand/fan tribute ‘Always Love The Hate’ initiative and the campaign’s various strands – which spanned ad executions, interactive mechanics and Nike products – circled around a Nike Basketball bespoke web hub at www.nike.com/mambaday.
The assets ranged from a simple included a digital poster, to an interactive, fan-created #MambaDay generator enabling fans to create their own final Bryant career comment overlayed on a powerful player photo which could then be shared across supporters’ own social media.
Also, in the product silo, for a limited time period beginning at tipoff of Bryant’s final game, fans could customise and purchase a limited edition Kobe 11 Mamba Day NikeiD shoe to celebrate Bryant’s career by featuring graphics highlighting eight notable career statistics.
The initiative also came complete with an accompanying #MambaDay limited Nike clothing range.
The campaign was led by a set of classic ad assets led by a spearhead US commercial called ‘The Conductor’ – which sees the retiring 37-year-old conduct an orchestra of players, coaches and rowdy fans in a ‘symphony of jeers and cheers’ (echoing the player’s polarising effect throughout his career).
The ‘extras’ in the spot include both Kobe lovers and haters and also include other celebrities linked to Bryant’s career and Nike stars from coach Phil Jackson, to players like Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace and even Chicago mascot Benny the Bull.
The spot, created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland and directed by Mark Romanek, follows a previous Nike Bryant tribute ad released a few days earlier and featuring a string of Nike athlete ambassador tributes (and which saw Nike athletes across multiple sports wearing black and gold shoes as a symbolic tribute to Bryant’s golden career).
Nike athletes celebrating Kobe in the spot launched in the lead up to #MambaDay include Kyrie Irving, Russell Wilson, Allyson Felix, Elena Delle Donne, Odell Beckham Jr, Paul George, Rafael Nadal, Paul Rodriguez, Natalie Anchonwa, Kirani James, Michelle Wie, Richard Sherman, LeBron James, Neymar Jr, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Phil Jackson, Sanya Richards-Ross, Tiger Woods, Clay Mathews, NaVorro Bowman, Brooks Koepka, Kevin Durant, Rob Gronkowski, Ali Krieger, Rory McIlroy, Gerard Pique, Eric Koston, Shao Ting, Javier Mascherano, Yi Jianlian, Andres Iniesta, Marcus Mariota and Mo Farah.
A side strand of the campaign in China (where Bryant is hugely popular) saw Nike and Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai roll out a different Love/Hate farewell commercial called #Don’t Love Me, Hate Me’.
‘Kobe has an intimate relationship with the Chinese ballers, so he knows exactly how to teach and motivate them,’ explains Terence Leong, creative director of W+K Shanghai.
‘Together with Nike China and Kobe, our team crafted the script and made sure the film was just as provocative as the man himself. It was an intense and uncompromising process because Kobe was just as demanding on the creative team as he was on the Lakers.’
W+K creative director Azsa West adds: ‘’[Kobe] chose to focus on becoming a legend rather than being a hero. When it comes to winning, Kobe is willing to push himself to risk everything. Because standing back and doing nothing, that’s real failure. This philosophy is very Nike ‘Just do it,’ and Kobe is the perfect person to deliver this spirit of Nike.’
The umbrella campaign was further supported with plenty of social content – particularly in the lead up to and during the final game itself
Chasing 50. #MambaDay pic.twitter.com/7OcyZyflxF
— Nike Basketball (@nikebasketball) April 14, 2016
and ended with the simple post that generated 40,000 Likes and 40,000 Retweets.
Mamba out. pic.twitter.com/CYq0aO6kE2
— Nike Basketball (@nikebasketball) April 14, 2016
A further product based campaign launched the day after #the last game #MambaDay revealed Kobe’s post retirement next chapter with Nike Muse Pack (which fuses innovation with deeper inspirational stories while furthering Kobe’s journey with Nike) initiative.
Comment
Sponsors and advertisers of all kinds have been bidding farewell to Kobe Byrant through his final season with both comic and dramatic executions and Nike tries to balance both approaches.
Which isn’t a simple proposition by any means!
But the sportswear giant pulls it off – just.
For example, The Conductor commercial has an offbeat, funny theatricality (not entirely unlike W+K’s Old Spice creative approach) and yet it is not a straight parody, but rather an ad that ‘illustrates how hate has manifested into respect and admiration for Bryant’ (at least that’s what Nike says).
With more than six million YouTube views in its first four days, this idea of exploring Bryant’s status as basketball’s greatest hero or villain has certainly generated plenty of interest.
Indeed, there is a certain bravery in this approach to athlete ambassador activation which ought to be acknowledged and admired.
As does Nike integrated campaign as a whole – as much for its fan-centric participation and product-customisation as for its creative.
Links
Nike Basketball YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/nikebasketball
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https://www.instagram.com/nikebasketball/
Nike Basketball Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nikebasketball
Nike Basketball Twitter:
https://twitter.com/nikebasketball
Nike Basketball Google+:
https://plus.google.com/u/1/107776789471487751521/about
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