Play My Tweet
Foot Locker
Issue 38 | March 2016
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide: David Lubars Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York: Greg Hahn Executive Creative Director: Chris Beresford-Hill Executive Creative Director: Dan Lucey Art Director: Martins Zelcs Copywriter: Bryan Stokely
Production Team
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe Project Lead: Michael Gentile Associate Director of Digital Production: Joe Croson Event Producer: Olivia Boutcher Interactive Producer: Eric Bloom Production Company: The Kitchen @ BBDO Director: Lawrence Chen Director of Photography: Jon Chen Executive Producer: Renee Haar Line Producer: Jonathan Hsu
Other Credits
Account Team: Troy Tarwater, Janelle Van Wonderen, Nick Robbins, Samuel Henderson Senior Digital Strategist: Rhys Hillman Live Event Editor: Keith Vogelsong Editor: Nick Divers @ Mackenzie Cutler Editorial Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld @ Mackenzie Cutler Music: Cameron Thompkins
Date
October 2015
Background
James Harden was believed to be one of the best shooters in the NBA. Foot Locker wanted to test that belief and give fans a one-of-a-kind interaction with Harden himself. With Play my Tweet, fans could not only engage with Harden, they could get him to do whatever they wanted, if he missed.
Idea
The idea was simple. Fans tweeted requests for James, they were printed on basketballs, James shot them and if he missed, he fulfilled the requests.
Results
On the day of the event, James shot 20 Tweets, which were edited live and pushed out in real-time, garnering over 120 million impressions, giving Foot Locker's fans a chance to interact with one of the league's biggest stars and bolstering Foot Locker's online presence.
Our Thoughts
Quite often, it’s a big-shot marketing director with a big budget and a big ego who demands a big idea. But quite possibly in the digital age, what a brand needs is a whole series of little ideas. Like this. It isn’t a big shouty look-at-me idea with a case history video that collects a million YouTube views in its own right but it’s one in a number of chatty, friendly ideas, which, collectively, seem to be turning Foot Locker into a kickass brand. This is the sort of idea that gives basketball fans a chuckle. It isn’t meant to turn the world upside down. Just reinforce the feeling that this is a brand that knows jocks, knows how they like to banter with each other and knows that lobbing a celebrity into the mix will create a sudden, sharp spike of interest.