In USA sports Christmas Day is owned by the NBA and to promote its action-packed festive fixtures the league launched a new all-singing campaign fronted by its biggest stars called ‘The Most Dunktastic Time of the Year’.
Developed by the league’s agency The Marketing Arm, the objective was to build fan excitement around the festive fixtures with an initiative based on the well-known and much-loved Christmas anthem ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year’ (popularised by Andy Williams),
The campaign broke a week before Christmas Day, led by a flagship TV spot featuring an eight-strong choir of NBA star players harmonizing over three-pointers and slam dunks.
All eight featured in the league’s Christmas Day game slate: a fixture list led by the season’s first rematch between last yuear’s NBA Finals competitors the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They included LA Clippers’ Blake Griffin, Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kevin Love, Chicago Bulls’ Dwyane Wade, New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green, Minnesota Timberwolves Zach LaVine, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Victor Oladipo and Los Angeles Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell, pluss the San Diego Spurs Coyote mascot and a handful of fans too.
The spot’s song reworks the old tune’s lyrics to include plenty of basketball tie-ins: such as ‘slam dunks we’ll be making, shot blocks so amazing, and three pointers from the first row…’
The campaign aims to strengthen the current connection between Christmas and the NBA: reinforcing the idea that Christmas is not complete without the NBA.
The commercial ran on both US broadcast channels and cable networks: including the channels showing the league’s five-game Christmas Day schedule – ABC and ESPN, as well as TNT, NBA TV, NBA.com, BET, VH1).
It was also amplified across social media (including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) including p[osts from the player singers on their own channels.
It's the most dunktastic time of the year! One of my fav traditions..playing on Christmas Day. #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/3KIzD686Gc
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) December 22, 2016
There was even a version running via an app from Musical.ly that enabled people to lip-sync to the song while watching a clip from the TV spot.
The central TVC was also supported by a companion blooper spot showing the players missing cues and dropping props called ‘Dunktastic Bloopers’.
The NBA also posted the spots on its international websites.
An additional strand of the league’s Christmas campaign saw the NBA bring a real choir of carol singers to belt out “The Most Dunktastic Time of the Year” at the flagship NBA Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City on 16 December (and in other cities).
As well as the central Christmas campaign, the NBA further promoted the games by releasing a hype video for Warriors v Cavs on Christmas Day on 19 December,
According to the NBA: ‘Sometimes there is so much good NBA basketball on TV that you can’t help but break into song. This Christmas, the NBA has gift-wrapped five of the season’s best match-ups into one action-packed day. With the help of our players and dozens of fans, the NBA has put its own spin on the classic “The Most Dunktastic Time of the Year.”’
Comment:
If you’ve ever wondered whether any NBA players can sing as well as they can pass, shoot, dunk and dribble then this is an opportunity to discover the truth.
We can save you some time by revealing that while some can carry a tune, none will be winning American Idol.
Dunktastic follows the league’s now established tradition of rolling out festive tune Christmas commercials.
Some of our favourites have included 2013’s ‘Jingle Hoops’ (16m YouTube views)
and 2012’s ‘ Big Color – Carol Of The Bells’ (11.5m YouTube views).
Links:
NBA:
http://www.instagram.com/nba
http://nba.tumblr.com
The Marketing Arm:
