Harden Fronts Foot Locker 'Play My Tweet' Challenge Ahead Of New NBA Season

NBA star James Harden has placed himself at the mercy of basketball fans around the world through Foot Locker’s latest stunt which invites fans to challenge the Houston Rockets shooting guard to ‘dares’ for shots he misses during a branded October basketball event titled ‘Play My Tweet’.

The campaign, rolling out before the late October start of the new NBA season, sees the sports footwear retailer (a long-time league sponsor) put its athlete ambassador at the command of their customers and his fans if Harden’s shooting skills fail him.

Each time he misses a shot at a real-world, Foot Locker event on 8 October he will have to carry out one of the fan requests submitted socially to @FootLocker using the #PlayMyTweet hashtag.

Inviting viewers to tweet funny things they’d like to see Harden do to, then Foot Locker and BBDO will then print each individual requests on a basketball.

Then during a live event in Houston, the All-Star will shoot the balls and for each one he misses he will have to do whatever is printed on them.

The campaign is introduced by an explanatory teaser video which is essentially a call-to-action and

In outlining the dares he may have to perform, the spot sees the shooting guard suggest ‘Yodel? Eat a raw onion? Wax my legs?’, but he says he won’t have off his beard.

This online film asks fans to be creative, but to keep it clean. It explains that only the best ideas will get chosen, so urges all fan players to ‘be original’ and ‘have fun’.

The tease phase also plays out across Foot Locker’s social platforms.

Tweet requests for @JHarden13 @footlocker w/ #PlayMyTweet. Watch it all go down on 10/8. http://t.co/oJ5KMh1lYI https://t.co/UNXIAICObX

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) September 28, 2015

This ambassador led fun idea blends social/digital engagement, with fan-creation and a real-world event.

It's "I'm a little teapot" time for @JHarden13 & @Kenny_Mayne. #PlayMyTweet https://t.co/LWVIGCCJsZ

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) October 9, 2015

Best for last? @JHarden13 & @Kenny_Mayne go one-on-one. Loser gets 200 lbs of spaghetti on their head! #PlayMyTweet https://t.co/tF1IKpK2vp

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) October 9, 2015

Having @JHarden13 as your voicemail recording would be pretty cool… #PlayMyTweet https://t.co/44b3cbX62r

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) October 9, 2015

The ‘Play My Tweet’ challenge is the latest innovative Foot Locker stunt campaign by BBDO New York.

‘The goal is to do most of the things in real time. We will shop for every tweet that’s on a ball. We’ll buy a raw onion and have it on hand if someone tweets they want him to eat one,’ explains BBDO New York ECD Chris Beresford-Hill,

‘We’ll also play some bigger asks, like “Pick me up from the airport” and those will be documented as follow-up videos if he misses the shot,’ adds fellow BBDO ECD Dan Lucey.

Comment:

This is a clever example of a social promotion that keeps fans engaged out-of-season and generates creatively, two-way engagement between consumer and brand and between fan and athlete.

It also pulls off the trick of getting supporters excited about the event, but keeping them in the dark about the final results until they happen live.

Harden is Foot Locker’s go-to sports endorser and Play My Tweet follows last year’s Cannes Lions winning ‘Horse With Harden’

This saw Harden play the old school kids game ‘Horse’ against his online fans – see page 22 of our ‘Cannes 4 Fans’ briefing report.

Foot Locker has been a multi-territory NBA commercial partner (in various guises) for around two decades – with ties to the league, the All-Star Weekend and several star players.

Links:

Foot Locker Twitter:

https://twitter.com/footlocker

@footlocker

Foot Locker Instagram:

https://instagram.com/footlocker

Foot Locker YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/footlocker

Foot Locker Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/footlocker?_rdr=p

Foot Locker Google+:

https://plus.google.com/+FootLockerofficial