Nine days before the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament, the league has unveiled a film campaign called "The Heist," based loosely on "Ocean’s 11" and featuring players scheming to steal the tournament’s NBA Cup trophy. Developed by the creative agency Translation and staged at a pseudo-Las Vegas casino built inside a L.A. hotel, the 1 minute, 45-second promotion was directed by Karim Huu Do, shot by cinematographer Chayse Irvin and will initially air Wednesday during ESPN’s broadcast of Celtics-Knicks.
Underscoring the importance of the tournament to Commissioner Adam Silver, NBA CMO Tammy Henault called the cinematic film "probably the biggest production" the league has ever taken on. The idea, she said, was to show the public "our players are really invested" in the tournament, and the NBA’s player marketing team managed much of the outreach that led to Draymond Green, Trae Young, DeMar DeRozan, Darius Garland, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard and Julius Randle’s participation.
Narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Michael Imperioli ("Goodfellas," "Sopranos"), the film features Green as a security guard wheeling the NBA Cup through the would-be casino in Las Vegas, where the in-season tournament’s Final Four will be staged Dec. 7th and 9th. Imperioli then describes the six players who are scheming to steal the trophy from Green and eventually concludes the spot with the line: "The only way to get the NBA Cup is to win it."
Henault said an updated second version of the film will run during the "Knockout Round" of the tournament and that a third and final spot -- featuring Magic Johnson -- will air just before and during the Final Four in Las Vegas.
"There were really fun behind-the-scenes moments," Henault said of the production. "After DeMar and Trae did the elevator scene, everyone was really impressed they were able to nail that choreography, and DeMar and Trae were joking that they could do the next ‘Rush Hour,’ that they're ready to hit the big screen themselves. Kawhi rated himself a 10 out of 10. Draymond liked being a security guard and having kind of a star performance in it. And Imperioli is a huge Knicks fan, so he got a signed jersey from Julius Randle."
The spots are scheduled to be released in 215 countries/territories and translated into as many as 15 languages. Complementary 30-second, 15-second and 10-second versions will be disseminated, as well, and the promotion will be ushered out with out-of-home, digital, social, audio and print assets.
"It's absolutely one of our biggest priorities to establish a new tradition," Henault said of the tournament. "We're coming together across the whole organization to make sure we set this up for success. It’s on par with I’ll say all-star or the Finals in terms of how we're approaching it."
