Sunday, December 14, 2008

The NBA's New Ads: Where LeBron James Singing Cyndi Lauper Happens


The good folks at the NBA have given Alana G the scoopy doo on the new ad campaign that will be launched December 25th during the FIVE Christmas Day games. This is exciting, because as much as I loved the old "Where Amazing Happens" piano spots, they've been starting to get a little tired. (Except for my spoof version, which never gets old.)

The new campaign centers around an Amazing Tour Bus. Apparently people get shrunken down (like this?) to ride in a miniature tour bus which spies on NBA stars during moments fans rarely get to see.

One of the spots features LeBron during his pre-game ritual of singing along to the music in his headphones. What's he singing? No, it's not the latest Kanye or Fitty or whatever the kids are listening to these days. It's the old Cyndi Lauper hit, Time After Time.* Oh LeBron!

You can watch outtakes of LeBron singing here. (Don't quit your day job, homie.) I can't show you video of the other spots yet, but I can tell you they involve mystery, intrigue, Greg Oden's gigantic feet, and Pau Gasol's sweaty pants.


Last year's Amazing campaign was pretty well received, and I think this one will be too -- it was done by the same ad agency (Goodby Silverstein) and the spots were apparently directed by Randy Krallman, the guy who does those funny talking baby E-Trade commercials ("hey girl, can I hit you back?"). We'll see how they go over when they air December 25th during the five games on ESPN, ABC, and TNT.

But let's be real, we don't really care how they go over with the general public. The real question is, will the blogosphere step up its parody game this year? Come on folks, I'm trying to see a mini bus roll through to see Eddy Curry eating dinner or Allen Iverson worshipping in his shrine to Michael Jackson or Sheed gardening in his [cough cough] backyard. Consider that a CHALLENNNNGE blogosphere!

*Ok, can we please pause to appreciate how effed up the video for "Time After Time" is? I remember watching it when I was a youngun but the only thing that struck me as weird at that time was that Cyndi's hair looked like she had slept on a waffle iron. I guess all music videos from the eighties were kind of messed up. Someone call those literal guys and tell them to work on this one next.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't promise to do a parody, but I will be on the lookout for how us blog folks react.

Can LeBron even sing? I guess when you're rich, it really doesn't matter.

johnjohnsaidit.com

Stumpleton Wang said...

I just noticed that Lebron sits on an Aeron. Must be nice.

Anonymous said...

Alana, you're right--those old piano spots were getting *real* stale. I'm a little worried about this tour bus looking amateurish, but if they do it right (as it sounds like they might!), this could be a hilarious campaign.

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The new campaign centers around an Amazing Tour Bus