The 2021-22 NBA Season tipped off the league’s 75th Anniversary celebration. NBA 75 honors the moments, greats and culture of the past and celebrates everywhere the league is going.

The challenge was capturing the spirit behind 75 years of basketball and honoring the history of the league, while also creating excitement for what is to come. The most effective and ownable way for the brand to look in the past while maintaining leverage for the future was to create a platform that housed the why, when, and how the NBA community comes together.

Our objectives were clear: raise awareness for the 75th anniversary, build brand affinity by using both the history and the future outlook of the league, and find unique ways to engage the NBA’s community on social media to boost viewership with both lifelong and casual fans alike.

The NBA focused on engaging the social community to connect the past, present and future. With that, how would we introduce #NBA75 to the world? First, the NBA developed a campaign and short film called ‘NBA Lane’ for social. ‘NBA Lane’ is the world’s greatest, never-ending neighborhood that's home to 75 years of basketball culture - and every NBA Player and Legend.

But this was only the beginning. Playing into the theme of 75 years being the diamond anniversary, NBA social created a ‘diamond-encrusted’ NBA 75 basketball to connect legends, current players, future stars, celebrities and fans through content captured with the ball.

Finally, how would the NBA celebrate the history of the league on social media? The NBA leaned into celebrating top moments in history with a ‘Memory Lane’ series daily and gave fans the chance to hear directly from players through a Twitter Space series ‘My NBA 75’.

The NBA developed a social campaign using the hashtag #NBA75 to engage our online social community throughout the season with content executions to showcase the history of the game and promote the league’s current and future stars.

Through ‘NBA Lane’, a short film celebrating the league’s storied history, more than 30 NBA players and legends came together to tell the story of the past 75 years. The spot was infused with easter eggs for fans to engage around.

Next, the diamond-encrusted special NBA 75 Anniversary ball connected players, celebrities and fans and brought awareness to the celebratory Season. The ball grew into something bigger than we could have ever imagined, reaching millions of people through social.

Finally, to educate fans on the history of the game and bring back a nostalgic feeling for fans across the world, the NBA rolled out the best historical moments from the last 75 years.

We premiered the ‘NBA Lane’ film, along with behind-the-scenes elements from the shoots, on NBA social. ‘NBA Lane’ also came to life through AR effects on Snapchat and Instagram.

In conjunction with the debut of the short-film, we published historical content including ‘Memory Lane’ and promoted the ‘My NBA 75’ series across @NBA and the NBA’s historical social account @NBAHistory.

We captured and published photos and videos of players, celebrities and fans with the diamond-encrusted basketball at NBA games and events. In addition, the ball came to life through AR effects on Snapchat and Instagram and became a Mixed Reality element used during the NBA All-Star game broadcast.

#NBA75 content was published across NBA social media accounts on Facebook, GIPHY, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, as well as across player, celebrity and influencer accounts throughout the 2021-22 NBA season and postseason.

Results from #NBA75 across NBA social as of April 2022:

- 3.3+ billion impressions

- 1.2+ billion video views

- 162+ million minutes watched

- 187+ million actions

‘NBA Lane’ became the NBA’s most-viewed Twitter video all season and the NBA’s most-seen Tweet of all time with 41M impressions. The cast became passionate ambassadors of the film, sharing the film across their platforms, posting special behind-the-scenes moments and reflecting on the honor they felt to represent the NBA. In addition, players, celebrities and fans shared their photos with the diamond-encrusted basketball with their communities on social.

Excitement around #NBA75 generated widespread and positive media coverage, including a feature about ‘NBA Lane’ on GMA and stories in The Undefeated, Sports Business Journal, and USA Today, among others. The diamond-encrusted basketball received coverage from Boardroom and requests from people all over the world to take photos with the “famous ball”.