Situation: Kobe Bryant’s abrupt and tragic passing left the game of basketball, and millions of athletes around the world, devastated. The future of his brand, uncertain. We needed to find a way to honor his example and continue his work. We also needed to show that who he was, and what he stood for, had implications far beyond a basketball court.

Brief: Show that Kobe’s legacy lives on in the next generation, through the Mamba Mentality: “A constant quest to become the best version of yourself”.

Objective: Pass the torch to a rising generation of athletes. Inspire them to become the best versions of themselves.

The Mamba Mentality can be explained in one simple word: Better. Kobe defined this mentality as being better today than you were yesterday. He demanded us all to be the best version of ourselves. In this spot, we took his words and showed how embracing the Mamba Mentality will make us better people and the world a better place.

Show that Kobe’s mentality is his final gift to the game, and it will be his greatest.

The Better campaign journey started on Kobe’s birthday (8/23) when the film posted on Nike channels @ 7am PST. First, the Nike Network ignited the message through Paid Social Impact on YouTube + Twitter. That evening, the film premiered live on TNT’s NBA pre-game show. The film led a 10 minute on-air discussion about Kobe’s legacy featuring heartfelt comments from his former teammate Shaq. That night concluded with the film airing live in NBA Tip-Off games on TNT.

Next, 8/24 was Nike’s Mamba Day and kicked off a weeklong celebration (Mamba Week) featuring sustained paid digital and OOH support of the film. A partnership with Twitter lead to a custom emoji and “branded like” experience that animated when users used the hashtag #MambaMentality.

Mamba Week culminated with athletes, especially young female athletes (aka Mambacitas), invited to Nike.com and Nike app where Mamba Mentors passed his wisdom onto the next generation.

The impact of the Better film was felt immediately and resonated during Mamba week with; 435M+ paid impressions and 105M+ Views, including,153M+ earned impressions.