For more than 50 years, since the emotional departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957, Brooklyn New York had been without a professional sports franchise. However, the promise of an NBA team, the Brooklyn Nets, and a new arena, Barclays Center, was met with immediate backlash from a hometown community that resisted change.

The challenge: To launch a new professional sports team in the most powerful sports market in the world, New York City, while faced with an escalating opposition movement from the team’s future fans.

To counter that movement we needed to shift the conversation. We harnessed the unique streak of pride that runs through Brooklyn and created a counter-revolution that would convert pride in Brooklyn to pride in team. When the team took the court for the first time at Barclays Center in October, we had Brooklyn and the world welcoming them with our campaign message, “Hello Brooklyn.”

The “Hello Brooklyn” movement tapped into the essence and global recognition of Brooklyn - the hard work, gentrification and diversity, music and culture.

The Brooklyn Nets logo would be the badge of honor worn by the team’s future fans. We seeded anticipation for the logo displaying empty shields with the Hello Brooklyn message in OOH media. When the logo was revealed in the same media placements days later, supported by a national media blitz and merchandise launch, Brooklynites rushed to get their piece of new Brooklyn swag.

Hello Brooklyn was supported with a strong celebrity, local government, and consumer social campaign with the hashtag #HelloBrooklyn to enroll early advocacy of the Brooklyn Nets.

In the months leading to the team’s first home game, JAY Z revealed the new jersey onstage at the first Barclays Center concert and we introduced the borough to their home team in local and digital media.

What started as the return of major professional sports to Brooklyn became a sweeping cultural movement, in Brooklyn and beyond. #HelloBrooklyn trended over 100,000 times from all 50 states and 131 countries.

The effects of Hello Brooklyn were felt immediately, as evidenced by retail results from the 6 months following the campaign launch:

-Brooklyn Nets merchandise was the top seller of all NBA teams.

-Modell's, the team’s official sporting goods retailer, sold more Nets merchandise during the first day of the launch than all prior New Jersey Nets seasons.

-Merchandise sales through Brooklynnets.com were more than double the team’s total sales for the 2010-11 season.

Starting with what seemed insurmountable odds, we were able to successfully convert sentiment toward the arena and set the stage for the Brooklyn Nets to be warmly welcomed to its new home. And, by igniting a positive counter-revolution, Brooklyn has new bragging rights.