In Mid-February gaming company DraftKings linked up with hip hop star Dave East to drop the third track in its ‘NBA Music Video Series’ to leverage the 2022 All-Star Weekend.
The music series campaign, which was developed in partnership with agency VaynerMedia, was based around three rising star hip hop artists who each produced videos blending music with basketball culture.
The brand-backed videos see the NBA sponsor seek to engage young adult hoops fans by leveraging the league’s cultural relevance which stretches beyond sport into entertainment, fashion and music.
The audio content activation initiative started at the season tip-off back in October 2021 with a Polo Perks video which was followed in December by a festive game and Fresco Trey video pairing which saw the hip hop artists track become part of the NBA 2K22 video game’s soundtrack.
Then, on 18 February, as the 2022 All-Star Weekend tipped-off, the brand’s hoops-linked mic passed to Dave East.
The videos were supported by additional ‘behind-the-reel’ spots and to reinforce the authentic nature of this activation, the artists launched their tracks and videos on their own social channels rather than via the brand’s own platforms.
Comment
This isn’t a standard ‘brand content’ approach which typically dresses up marketing as music, but rather actual, authentic music videos in which the musicians had complete artistic freedom to wrote a song and create a video based around their personal perspective on basketball culture.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.