NBA on ESPN 2013
ESPN needed an online ad campaign to promote their coverage of the 2013 NBA season, so we delivered a dynamic ad campaign that tapped into the existing ESPN API to display the latest matchups. The campaign ended up being one of the most versatile that I’ve worked on, dynamically changing the ad’s layout to accommodate the current upcoming game. For example, if ESPN was broadcasting a double header that particular night, the ad would switch a unique state to show both matchups. The ad had to prepare for many other variables as well, such as sponsors, pregame shows, additional broadcasting networks, and more.
The ad campaign was a great success for the client. After the regular season finished, the client even decided to use the ads for their playoff coverage. In addition to the client’s accolades, the campaign was recognized in the 2014 IAC awards, winning “Best Rich Media Sports Ad.”
Clock Management
Normally when an ad broadcasts a movie or event it has what’s called a dynamic tune-in, which means it’s date messaging will automatically switch depending on whether the event is live or not – if the event is live, the ad might say “live now” instead of “watch tonight”, for example. We took this concept a step farther by having the ad automatically display the advertised game’s score once it started. By doing so we could have a constantly relevant creative that not only promoted the game beforehand, but kept a user updated on the score in the hopes that they may be more inclined to tune in. In fact, if the game was in the closing minutes and the score was close, the ad would event display an alert message indicating that the game was going down to the wire to encourage late-comers to get in on the action.