The National Basketball Association commemorates Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month with an inspiring commercial which pairs audio of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s monumental “I Have A Dream” speech with black & white footage of iconic “firsts” from the NBA’s storied history of racial and cultural breakthroughs. From the 1950 signing of Chuck Cooper, the league’s first African-American player, to the great Bill Russell being named coach of the Boston Celtics, to Violet Palmer, the first female referee in men’s professional sports, to the high-profile 2013 coming out of Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player, the new broadcast film takes viewers on a breathtaking journey through some of the most significant basketball moments of the past 60 years.
Titled “Barrier Breakers,” the spot was created by NBA advertising agency, Translation. The footage was edited by Dayn Williams of Cut+Run.
Credits
Client NBA Agency Translation John Norman, chief creative officer; John Greene, chief strategy officer; Betsy Decker, executive creative director; Matt Comer, art director; Amir Farhang, Andy Ferguson, copywriters; Miriam Franklin, director of content production/EP; Philinese Kirkwood, associate producer; Tim Flood, head of brand strategy; Lindsey Neeld, strategist; Matt DeSimone, project manager. Editorial Cut+Run Dayn Williams, editor; Adam Bazadona, assistant editor; Rana Martin, post exec prducer; Jean Lane, post producer. VFX Sibling Rivalry Matt Tragesser, creative director; Gabe Darling, animator/compositor; Maggie Meade, exec producer; Joanna Fillie, head of production; Tracey McDonough, post producer. Post Company 3/Method Rob Sciarratta, colorist; Carmen Maxcy, Flame artist. Audio Post Heard City Phil Loeb, Evan Mangiamele, mixers; Gloria Pitagorsky, exec producer. Music Trackmasters.
“The Contextualist,” the latest chapter in Bloomberg Media’s “Context Changes Everything” brand platform, debuts today (3/6), creatively distinguishing Bloomberg.com & the Bloomberg app subscription’s value for global business and government leaders. The new concept builds on the campaign’s foundation of context--the power of Bloomberg’s journalism to draw deft connections between its wealth of news, insights and data in every corner of the world.
Golden Globe and BAFTA-award winning filmmaker Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) directed three new spots for the campaign via magna studios in his debut helming brand commercials. This spot titled “The Price of Tea in China” takes a well-known and seemingly simple idiom and unpacks its complexity as an international business story in a 30-second journey. (The other two commercials are “Bird in the Hand” and “Rising Tides.” The “Context” campaign continues to be developed in collaboration agency Wieden+Kennedy New York.
“‘Context Changes Everything’ has become an important rallying point with consumers to remind them what’s unique about Bloomberg as we continue to double down on global news coverage for them,” said Julia Beizer, COO, Bloomberg Media. “‘The Contextualist’ moves the brand forward by personifying the prevailing ideas of intellect, curiosity and ambition. We’ve gained more than 100,000 subscribers in the time since we first launched the campaign in September 2023, and it remains an important driving element of our investment to continue growing and engaging subscribers in the years to come.”
“As my directorial debut in the world of advertisement, I’m proud of this work for Bloomberg and how it addresses the importance of... Read More
