The commercials involving NBA athletes and the big brands have already become something iconic among basketball fans. In 2019, Hulu TV, the streaming platform for television shows, series and films, announced the launch of live sports in partnership with Fox, CBS and ESPN, with one of the main ambassadors, Damian Lillard.
The strategy to advertise this new product within the platform was basically segregated into two different points: tirelessly communicating that Hulu has 100% live sports and treating this relationship between influencer and brand with much more transparency. Advertisement campaigns often take place with people who do not identify with the product or service they are promoting, and from the consumer's point of view, this is very negative. In some situations, the impression remains that the influencer “ cheaply sold himself / herself” for the advertisement and that’s why Hulu decided to make clear that Lillard was being very well paid to promote the platform. Besides him, other athletes participated, to name just a few Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Baker Mayfield, Skylar Diggins.
From the get-go, Hulu put Dame's face on a billboard in front of the Oracle Arena with the following sentence: “I would never sell myself ... Except to say that Hulu streams live sports”
For those who do not know, the player was born in the city and has been a Warriors fan since his childhood, but he would never “sell himself” to join the super team that was lined up at the time.
During the All Star Weekend, one of the most popular and most watched events in the NBA, the player posted a video on his twitter account talking about a supposed new tattoo to debut in the All Star Game and, shortly after, he announced that Hulu paid him to tattoo that "Hulu has live sports". Even though a few people believe it, it was a joke, that ended up having over 250 thousand views on the social network.
Shortly after eliminating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2019 playoffs with 50 points and a ball past the shot clock, Lillard got all the attention in the world and decided to ask the fans for their opinion on which colorway to wear in Round 2 against the Nuggets on his twitter. Hulu's answer? This fictional collaboration “à la mode” Dame D.O.L.L.A.
The sneaker never materialized, but the player wore a fluorescent green Hulu-colored model in the conference finals against the Golden State Warriors.
While the player was in the bubble, an unprecedented feature was used to pretend he had "escaped" to record yet another commercial with Hulu, deepfake, a feature that uses artificial intelligence to simulate a person's face and speech in another's body.
Nothing like a little Brazilian creativity by Guto Araki, Head of creation of the Big Family Table agency that has the account of Hulu TV.
And now, in her latest ad, Lillard becomes Dame D.O.L.L.A. and launches a track called “Hulu Doesn't Just Have Live Sports”.
Hit the play button and check it out!
