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Dear Basketball – Social Media

“Dear Basketball” is Kobe Bryant’s animated ode to the sport that made him a superstar. Our objective was simple, but daunting: win an Academy Award. However, this was Bryant’s first-ever foray into entertainment and Animated Short Films do not garner the type of attention from Academy voters that regular movies do. To overcome these obstacles, we developed and executed an Oscar campaign that used social media to hit every note.

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Dear Basketball – Social Media

Initially, we focused social media efforts on thought leaders and influential press to set the tone. We promoted the film’s public wide release premiere in December 2017 at Bryant’s jersey retirement ceremony. This event included a huge influencer activation that involved paid and unpaid influencers, plus sports teams and celebrity posts all using the #DearBasketball hashtag. This digital activation resulted in over 680K engagements, 837M impressions, and 63K posts using the hashtag.

With the growing popularity of the film, it became crucial that we keep social media efforts focused on the short itself and credit the team which brought it to life. Consequently, social media channels not only acknowledged Bryant’s ambitious venture into storytelling, but also promoted John Williams’ stirring score and Glen Keane’s incredible animations. Keane, despite a historic 45 year long career in animations, had yet to receive an Oscar nomination. So, original behind-the-scenes content was created that featured Keane and his work. Through a strategic implementation of social media, we were able to subtly deliver these messages and keep voters focused on this beautiful short film.

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Dear Basketball – Social Media

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Dear Basketball – Social Media

We achieved the ultimate success metric: The 2018 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. This goal was reached by creating and executing a strategy that used social media as the primary vehicle for delivering messages. By doing so, we not only earned the film an Oscar, but also helped solidify Bryant as a true storyteller.