In 2008, the Boston Celtics reached the NBA final for the first
time in over 20 years. Reebok wanted to create a campaign that
would magnify the excitement and magic of this sporting moment,
with only 8 days to turn around the campaign. The key objectives
were to activate the Reebok brand during the highest profile
basketball series, establish authenticity and credibility in the
basketball category and drive sales of Reebok's basketball
merchandise.
The Reebok-sponsored player Rondo was the number one asset.
Reebok wanted to build on the growing popularity of the player
while driving traffic to the mobile site. The ky was to encourage
people to download a "You Got Rondo'd" ringtone to their mobile
phones and sign up for ring backs before each of the games. This
meant that when the games happened, the phones were set up to go
off whenever Rondo played a good move. As soon as he made a great
play, all of the phones rang out with the ringtone "You got
Rondo'd". When people picked up the calls, they heard further
messages from ex-Celtics legends providing an instant payoff for
the consumer in real time as they watched the game unfold. The
personalized WAP site also featured NBA player info, links to
product cataluge, send to a friend mechanism and bespoke videos
based on the same theme.
This was supported by mobile and online ads, flyering in bars in
and around the stadiums where the finals were being played, as well
as a key in-stadium presence on the big screen. There was also a
Reebok homepage takeover, targeted mobile banners, videos seeded on
YouTube.
As a result, the mobile site received over half a million unique
visits. Mobile ringtones and videos were downloaded by more than
200,000 people. Sales of Reebok's Celtics and basketball
merchandise exceeded US and international targets. The phrase "You
got Rondo'd" has also now entered into household vernacular.