Google, which holds multiple NBA sponsorship titles including Official Search Trends and Fan Insights Partner and Official Fan Phone, extended it Super Bowl marketing through to the NBA All-Star Weekend with a multi-strand activation programme that primarily highlighting the Pixel 6 Phone’s Real Tone tech feature.
The NBA’s official fan phone, the Pixel 6, is championed primarily through its ‘Real Tone’ feature which is positioned as accurately and authentically capturing a person’s image regardless of their complexion and this USP was showcased by photographer Shaniqwa Jarvis who took portraits of the athletes in the Google-sponsored HBCU Classic matchup between Howard University and Morgan State University.
Her work was promoted through a series of Google ads, led by a hero 30-second TVC which ran during Friday 18 February’s ‘Clorox Rising Stars’ game, Saturday 19 February’s ‘HBCU Classic’ and Sunday 20 February’s ‘NBA All-Star Game’.
The phone’s camera uses computational photography technology to adjust its lighting to more accurately display varying skin colors, particularly people with darker skin tones.
The player images and the 30-second spot appeared across broadcaster TNT’s HBCU Classic coverage, while the pictures also popped up during Saturday and Sunday’s during All-Star festivities at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland.
The campaign was a collaboration between Google, Photographer Shaniqwa Jarvis, agency The Robot Company, plus production company The SpringHill Company and post-production outfit Union Editorial.
“When skin is photographed right, it looks exactly as I see it: warm, beautiful. With Real Tone, you really see the nuances,” explained photographer Shaniqwa Jarvis. “It is a joy to know these students will be properly seen.”
“The ballers’ energy was off the charts during the shoot,” according to The Robot Company which helped devise the campaign. “They all came in hyped, clowning on each other and gassing up the crew. We had a moment where we noticed all the Howard players making TikToks, so we had to remind them not to post until the game. Everyone immediately grabbed their phones and started deleting multiple posts. Keith McGee (Morgan State #3) was pitching himself as the face of Google and jumped into so many shots his teammates started holding him back, while teammate Ty Horner (Morgan State #31) is hoping his shots grab the attention of Lululemon so he can get a modeling contract.”
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This NBA activation followed on from Google’s 60-second Super Bowl LVI commercial from the previous week which was created by agency GUT and starred Lizzo and which also highlighted Real Tone technology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhUgcYw9cj4
The All-Star activation also followed on from previous NBA-related work from Google such as its late December 2021 creative fronted by NBA legend Magic Johnson.
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