The 2025 season of the National Basketball Association tipped off on October 22, 2024 with a fresh look at a league that is looking to become as digitally native as its globally expansive audience is at its core. Alongside the new, younger faces of the league like Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, and Victor Wenbanyama, the league tapped two specific creators to join the campaign for the 2025 season tipoff: Kai Cenat & Drew Afualo.
CMO of the NBA, Tammy Henault, spoke about the new look and marketing approach for the league in articles for AdAge and Adweek, in which she was quoted saying,”using content creators is just a great, authentic way to reach our broader audience that already skews heavily multicultural and Gen Z.” Additionally, Adweek goes on to note that the NBA sees Kai as “an opportunity to reach out to more avid NBA fans” while Drew “offers an audience of more casual fans that the NBA has been trying to reach earlier in the season.”
Other than the ad campaign itself, the NBA invited Kai to the Knicks vs Celtics tip-off game where the league highlighted him in very similar ways to their players through an arrival moment, warm-ups, photo-ops with commissioner Adam Silver, and a custom jersey moment with 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. With Drew, the NBA featured her across their social channels for the Suns vs. Clippers game on 10/23.
More highlights can be found on her TikTok and Instagram.
In an era where gaming and live streaming have become pillars of digital entertainment, it’s glaring that the BET Awards still lacks a dedicated category to honor these creators.
Content creation dreams are easier than going to the NBA. Ryan thinks the next generation will spend more time trying to go pro in content than going to the league. Do you agree?
Olly Sholotan, best known for his role of Carlton Banks on the Bel-Air reboot, joins hosts Ryan Johnson and Dalmar Wiltshire to talk music, gaming, acting and entertainment. Olly shares his origin story with audience of dancing on tables as a kid, dreams of playing soccer but also getting into coding. Pulling from his multitude of interest, Sholotan explains how he landed into acting and music production, highlighting his 2025 EP "Ollywood BLVD." The trio also take a deep dive into the movie theater industry and the complexities of content creation but also how viewers are inundated with series across multiple platforms.
Leeeeeeet's Gooooo ... Troop and Kiko Blac giving us nothin but heat. Are you an Anime Fan? What's your favorite anime?
