In the NBA, hype films and campaign content are typically used to amp up fans with high-energy, player-rooted visuals. Rather than produce another hype reel featuring the team’s star-studded roster, we opted to celebrate “The Brooklyn Way” by passing the mic to the community—demonstrating that this team isn’t just located in Brooklyn–it belongs to Brooklyn.

Objectives:

- Grow the Brooklyn Nets fan base in Brooklyn

- Uncover the common thread that connects Nets fans in Brooklyn

- Increase positive sentiment and affinity for the Brooklyn Nets brand

- Unify the borough in celebration of 10 Years in Brooklyn

The franchise moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn in 2012 and was the first professional sports team to play in the borough since the Brooklyn Dodgers. We drew inspiration from the deep basketball history of the borough that practically summoned the team here and the people and places that make Brooklyn, Brooklyn.

We were looking to take an atypical approach to launching a season campaign for a sports team. Rather than produce another hype reel featuring the team’s star-studded roster, we opted to celebrate “The Brooklyn Way” by passing the mic to the community, demonstrating that this team isn’t just located in Brooklyn – it belongs to Brooklyn.

For the film, we combined unscripted interviews from the Nets’ first “lifelong” fans – 10 year olds – with black-and-white visuals shot by renowned street photographer and Brooklyn native Andre Wagner, and a score crafted by Oscar-nominated composer Emile Mosseri to create a love letter to Brooklyn. In “10 Years In Brooklyn,” children from throughout the borough speak to the highs, lows, challenges, and overall beauty of growing up in Brooklyn – drawing powerful parallels to the Nets and their pursuit of belonging, success, and glory.

This team has a global fan base, but we chose to speak directly to Brooklyn. Even though the team has been in Brooklyn for 10 years, many in the community still question how authentic the Nets’ relationship with Brooklyn is. Rather than focus on how far we’d come, we made it about how close we’d come – to the city, to the culture.

Brooklyn is a diverse borough in which basketball plays a much greater role in culture than in most other cities. With over 170 public courts, deep roots with The Black Fives historically, a storied streetball legacy and an impressive range of local pro legends, Brooklyn forms the attitude, spirit and edge that makes the Brooklyn Nets the Brooklyn Nets.

The anthem piece launched via Instagram and Twitter just prior to the Nets’ 10th anniversary season in Brooklyn in October 2022. It also aired locally on YES Network, the team’s local broadcast partner, during the first few weeks of the NBA season. The film has also been played in-arena before Brooklyn Nets home games throughout the 2022-23 season. Additionally, the rallying cry, “The Brooklyn Way”, served as the team’s season-long mantra, appearing across a wide array of creative executions from social to OOH to paid media to season-ticket member campaigns and inspired elements of additional hero programs including All-Star The Brooklyn Way. The design system was also implemented across digital and traditional OOH placements throughout the Nets’ season.

The campaign was so successful during the regular season that the organization is retiring their previous Playoff campaign mantra to now pivot towards highlighting The Brooklyn Way for Playoffs as well.

The film launched in-arena and social for the 2022-23 season and is currently played before every home game. It has marked a clear turning point toward a more meaningful bond between the Nets and Brooklyn.

Grow the Brooklyn Nets fan base in Brooklyn:

- 30% YOY database growth of fans who live in Brooklyn

Uncover the common thread that connects Nets fans in Brooklyn

- YouTube comments were 95% positive with fans

Increase positive sentiment and affinity for the Brooklyn Nets brand

- On Twitter, the film performed +144% above the franchise's average, +9% on Instagram and has garnered 695K impressions on a mostly organic run. When compared to non-game action, the film performed 110% more video views than average on Instagram and 282% more video views

Unify the borough in celebration of 10 Years in Brooklyn

- ‘The Brooklyn Way’ has become unifying cry for the players, coaching staff