NBA India games 2019-India’s first-ever floating court makes a grand debut

EE News Desk Oct 03, 2019

With the NBA games coming to India for the very first time, The Max - A Tribes Group and DDB Mudra JV company was mandated to create buzz for the games. The campaign “NBA IN MY BACKYARD” had all the elements of the NBA culture that exist in the countries that actively follow the game. Elements like street art, Hip Hop are an intrinsic part of the NBA life. We wanted to bring to life essence of that culture along with the games to our backyard – INDIA, mentioned Gour Gupta, CEO of The Max and Managing Director of Tribes Group.

The team at ‘The Max’ wanted the entry of NBA to India to be one that people remembered for a long time to come. An iconic event like this surely needed an epic welcome. So, what could be grander than making its symbolic entry from THE GATEWAY OF INDIA. We developed a unique storyboard, that is a mix of street art and technology.

We created an artistic storyboard narrated through 3D mapping projection, on the towering structure to usher in the games. On the 28th and 29th of September, the people of Mumbai, saw the monument come alive with the colours of NBA and that of the playing teams visiting the country – Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings.

Now, that’s just not it; alongside the 3D mapping initiative, 4 graffiti artists in Mumbai - NME, Minzo, Mooz & Dexter were commissioned to paint the city with the colors of NBA, covering over 4000 sqft of walls, including a basketball floor.

To bring in the element of Hip Hop and to instill the idea of NBA being in our backyard, we commissioned 5 Hip Hop acts across the country - Meba Oflia from Shillong, Madurai Souljour from Madurai, Brodha V from Bengaluru, Shahrule from Mumbai and Frennzy also from Mumbai - to create 5 tracks, that welcome NBA to their backyard, which were distributed across various streaming platforms and radio channels.

“In 72 hours flat we shot five videos, edited them and got them ready for release. In fact, just about now, the second video should be hitting the social media handles. Meba’s video- shot in Shillong - is out already, mentions Sanjay Shukla- COO, The Max.

The final leg of the journey was the most exciting and awe inspiring for all of us, a floating basketball court, in the Arabian sea – the first of its kind to happen in India. An attempt at creating something never done before in the country. “Probably the most challenging part of the promotions, the will to bring the floating court alive took us on this journey, from finding the perfect location to understanding the logistics, we went all out to get the floating court alive, recalls Gour.

“It gave us first-hand knowledge of tidal effects, and many more maritime realities. The team braved the sea, literally - to create this piece of branding history. After three months of ifs and buts and then to see it all come through, am I proud” exalts Gour Gupta.

The floating basketball court went live on the 2nd of October, with influencers and celebrities alike, coming on board to dribble the ball and shoot a few hoops, we had the mascot and the cheerleading dancers of the Sacramento Kings on the court along with NBA academy kids and the Hip Hop rappers, who dribbled, sang and played a few games.