Nike Basketball used the start of the 2022/3 NBA season to launch its latest ‘LeBron XX signature sneaker through a campaign called ‘Father Time’ which sees hops icon James face off against actor Jason Momoa.
‘The King’ against ‘The Clock’ idea pits LA Lakers star and all-time NBA great James (aged 37) against time itself in the personified form of Aquaman, Dune and Game Of thrones star Mamoa (aged 43).
The campaign, conceived by long-time Nike creative agency Wieden+Kennedy, rolled out days ahead of the NBA tip-off which saw James start his 20th season in the league and was built around an online mini-series.
The first spot sees current hoops commentator and former NBA star Richard Jefferson mention how “LeBron James has been great, but this is his 20th season and Father Time may not be far away” as Mamoa’s personification of time magically appears in front of the Nike player ambassador.
Wearing a purple robe, Mamoa challenges the Lakers player to a series of competitions in order to see if the player nicknamed ‘King James’ can end his undefeated streak against the clock’.
The launch video is supported by a series of ‘rounds’ sequels, edits and cut-downs running across the brand and player social platforms.
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On 20 October, James began his 20th NBA season when his Lakers faced the current champion Golden State Warriors: a game in which the Los Angeles team lost 123-109 – might the just be the season that marks the beginning of the end of the NBA career of the man who is arguably basketball’s greatest ever player?
We can’t help but feel this campaign was part-inspired by the recent reboot of Space Jam starring James.
It follows on from previous inventive campaigns promoting LeBron signature shoes ranging from March 2022’s ‘LeBron Fruity Pebbles’ cereal/sneaker/Flintstones collaboration to the ‘LeBron 16 King Court Purple Mobile Scavenger Hunt’ .
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