Why is this work relevant for Integrated?

For the first time since being established in 1950, the world governing body for basketball decided to host 2019 Basketball World Cup in China. To mark this milestone event, they not only needed to reach people in the host country, but also make sure the world could share the experience by publicising the event, and showing people that basketball was a sport for everyone. To do this, they started a two year long campaign 'The World's Got Game' that spanned across multiple touchpoints, including digital, social, global TV broadcast, live performance, trophy tour, official anthem release, OOH, print and radio.

Background

Even though basketball is the second biggest sport globally, and most popular sport in China, most people still view it as a Western, or even US centric game. It was therefore a significant milestone opting to host the Basketball World Cup in China for the first time in history. Given the World Cup only takes place every 4 years, FIBA's core objective was how to make this World Cup the most publicised event in FIBA history. The brief then became about how they could add new dimensions of appeal, to elevate the game, and to find a way to unite the wider community. They had a 2 year lead time to start publicising, so they needed to maintain momentum in the lead up to the World Cup games, with core focus on the 6 months preceding the games, taking place between 31/08-15/09/19 across 8 cities in China.

Describe the creative idea

To maintain momentum in such a long lead time, the 'World's Got Game' campaign needed to be broad enough to incorporate numerous elements and spikes of activity that would engage passionate basketball fans and beyond, from all over the world. The core marketing plans focused on the 6 months leading up to the World Cup games. In order to broaden the appeal, whilst still communicating the underlying message, a new element of music was also incorporated as it felt like a natural passion point to unite the basketball community. A highly publicised World Cup Draw first brought a star-studded line up of basketball stars, including Kobe Bryant, and music stars like Jason Derulo together. An official anthem was then released globally, which saw a collaboration between International superstar Jason Derulo & China's soul queen Tia Ray.

Describe the strategy

As the idea was to broaden the appeal and unite the wider community of basketball, FIBA leveraged two of the biggest passion points - Sports and music to engage the crowd. By utilising FIBA's own engaged target audience, as well as amplifying through basketball stars like Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki with a huge fanbase globally, but more importantly in China, FIBA ensured the campaign appealed to the global basketball community, both in the East and West. By engaging commercial partners, spanning from sports brands, airlines, through to media giants & hotel groups, FIBA were able to broaden their reach to engage new audiences. Finally, by engaging Warner Music and their artists Jason Derulo & Tia Ray to collaborate and release an official anthem, they not only broadened their reach to the artists' fanbases, but in addition, broadened their footprint into new media touchpoints, across DSPs, new music platforms & media.

Describe the execution

Whilst the total campaign spanned 2 years, the core focus started from the lead up to the World Cup Draw, 16/03/19, through to the games, kicking off 31/08/19 across 8 cities in China. Executed in 3 key phases: 1.WORLD CUP DRAW - Promo spanned digital, social and radio announcements by FIBA, PR coverage from sports media. Additional promo by commercial partners, basketball stars and influencers on social & digital platforms. OOH across highest footfall locations in Shenzhen, featuring Derulo and Bryant. Finally a star-studded line up & performance by Derulo, broadcast globally at the Draw event in Shenzhen. 3.TROPHY TOUR & SONG DEVELOPMENT in parallel, creating hype in market. 4.SONG RELEASE - Warner launched 'Champion' 24th July globally, 5weeks before the World Cup games. Social content by artists, basketball stars and KOLs, as well as Youtube promo video released by FIBA. Added support from DSPs & music media globally.

List the results

The World Cup Draw was the most publicised Draw of all time. FIBA execs described the event as the best in FIBA history. The Draw sold out, with 70% of tickets selling out on day 1 of release. Over 100global TV and online channels broadcast the Draw, attracting cumulative views of 18mil+ on TV alone. 200+ sports & music press coverage of the Draw & song release. The song has been streamed in 55countries, 1mil+ engagement with it on socials & received 50exposure spots in China across 5 major DSP platforms through new music banners. Derulo saw 1214.4% growth in Weibo followers within 1.5weeks as a result of leveraging the FIBA partnership. Basketball stars including Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki & basketball influencers shared the song organically via socials, with cumulative reach of 16mil+. Additional artist reach of 32mil. Projected cumulative live audience of 1billion for men's Basketball World Cup finals.