Client: NBA | Agency: Translation | Role: Creative Director
To celebrate 75 seasons of awe-inducing, culture-shifting, mind-bending, ever-changing game, we imagined a world where all things NBA – past, present, and future – live together.
Welcome to NBA Lane.
Our launch film was littered with over 50 Easter eggs, so we tasked NBA-obsessed Reddit users with uncovering them all with the coveted Argentium award on the line.
Hours after posting, views for Welcome to NBA Lane jumped over 80 million across platforms. And fans started imagining their own vision for the Lane.
We celebrated a 5-game Christmas feast on December 25 with even more celebrities, legends, and superfans who live on NBA Lane.
But all that neighborly nonsense goes out the window come springtime. When all roads lead to NBA Lane Arena. Where the entire community descends for the Playoffs.
For 75 seasons and counting the league welcomes a new champion to a legendary brotherhood by handing over the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Our last film on NBA Lane takes us through the Arena tunnels for one. Final(s). Delivery.
Our film was used to reveal the redesigned Larry O’Brian Trophy, with Michael B. Jordan delivering it directly to the Finals, and appearing at Game 1 at the Chase Center (which went viral for non-commercial reasons). We also used the opportunity to recreate Kobe’s iconic shower jacket.
We partnered with illustrator Tyler Upchurch to create a wall of every NBA Finals MVP in the history of the league, seen here:
Being that this work was made in 2022, we HAD to build NBA Lane Arena in the Metaverse too. Here are a few grabs from our partnership with Horizon Worlds.
We also brought NBA Lane into the real world with a booth at ComplexCon.
In total, we’ve worked with over 50 current NBA stars and former legends to welcome fans into the neighborhood.
Photography by Tyree Harris.
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NBA Lane is the most viewed video tweet in NBA Twitter history.
It has also been called “one of the best sports ads ever” by AdWeek, “The greatest NBA commercial you’ll ever see” by Complex. USA Today said, “it was phenomenal,” while Fast Company called it, “Epic,” and Shea Serrano simply said, “this is so good.” AdAge (wrongly) predicted we’d win a Grand Prix at Cannes.
Our Christmas film was featured in Muse and the Playoffs work was covered by AdAge, The Source, Boardroom, Complex, and was AdWeek’s Ad of the Day.
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Sports Emmys, Winner: Outstanding Studio or Production Design / Art Direction; 2x Nominee: Outstanding Short Feature, Outstanding Edit - Short Form
Clio Sports 2022 (8x), Gold (Film – 61 seconds to 5 minutes); Silver (Film – 60 or less, Film Craft – Copywriting, Silver, Film Craft – Direction); Bronze (Branded Content – Athlete Storytelling, Film Craft – Editing, Integrated Campaign); Shortlist (Film Craft – Visual Effects)
Adweek, Best Ads of 2021, No. 4
2022 AICP Show, Shortlist (Production)
Sports Business Journal, Best Creative of 2021
The One Show, Shortlist (Long-Form Series)
The Webbys, 3x Nominee (Branded Entertainment, Sports; Media & Advertising, Best Copywriting; Social Videos, Sports)
The Tellys, Gold (Writing), Silver (Art Direction), Silver (Sports)
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Agency: Jason Campbell, Mina Mikhael, Chanae Reed, Johana Martinez, Asia Irvin, Jamal Parker, Alyssa Lee, Marisa Valente, Laura Ferguson, Lee Nichnowitz, Crissy Cicco, Becks Parra, Ash Pineda and many more
Partners: Rick Famuyiwa, The Malloys, Jaime Foord, Mikey Rossiter, Parliament VFX, Barking Owl, Sonic Union, and many more