It’s a simple concept, but one that’s often lost on us advertising types. It goes something like – “Put puppets in moving picture shows, and they will be funny.” – or whatever. I’m not sure what the exact wording is, but I know it’s truly a gold nugget of knowledge that often, in striving to be clever or creative in advertising, simple things like puppets, cartoons or, god forbid, good writing can make an ordinary spot outstanding. This past May and June, those of us who follow NBA basketball were treated to an advertising campaign that wasn’t just good, but great. The ads featured puppet versions of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, preparing for the NBA Playoffs, while living together. This was advertising at its finest.

Nike not only keeps their brand in front of the viewer, but uses the personal brands of LeBron and Kobe to promote the Nike brand as well. For those of you wondering what the chalk thing is all about, that’s this ridiculous thing that LeBron James stole from some other players like Kevin Garnett and . . . sorry. I started on a little basketball rant there. My bad. Back to the ads.

At this point you’re hooked, at least if you’re a basketball fan. The advertising is making you think about the real Kobe and LeBron, and what it might be like if they actually lived together. The trash talking and taunting would be amazing.

The general feeling amongst the basketball watching public was that these commercials were an attempt to promote a possible NBA Finals match-up between LeBron’s scrub Cavaliers and Kobe’s fantastically championship worthy Lakers. (Maybe I’m biased, but who really cares.) Now, this campaign was running well in advance of the Finals, which makes the risk associated with it a large part of why it was such great advertising.

Now they’re just being silly.

I love it. After four of these, I can’t wait to see the next one. That’s great, memorable advertising. Like the conjunction junction commercials from when I was a kid. Heck, they even made t-shirts out of that advertising. Did I mention they have Most Valuable Puppets campaign t-shirts as well? Let’s get to what I think was really the best part of the campaign.

The babysitting gig gives Nike a chance to really showcase the brand. Taking Lil Dez to the shoe room to show him some shoes really puts Nike at the forefront. Great branding. Next, the campaign takes a turn, after LeBron has been eliminated from the playoffs.

With all of the hype surrounding the possible Kobe v. LeBron Finals now deflated, the true genius of the campaign shines. The writers at Weiden+Kennedy (whom I assume had the reigns on this campaign, as they typically do with most of Nike’s high profile stuff) embraced the currency of the events and effectively turned them into a joke. In one final parting shot, LeBron looks forward to next year.

Now I haven’t included all of the ads here, although it may seem like a lot at this point. There are still others involving hilarious puppet activities like jumping into a car, being in two places at once and a post-Finals-winning celebration.

Perhaps the spots could’ve been as good with live action characters, but would you have as much fun watching them? Would they be nearly as memorable? My guess is no on both counts. The puppets, on top of all of the other great aspects of the campaign, make the advertising unforgettable.

Advertising can be all at once, art, entertainment, and sales tool. This campaign is one of the few that I can remember accomplishing all three of those things.

I hope they do it again next season.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 4:49 pm by Joshua Feig and is filed under | Advertising / Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.