Entertainment Lions For Music > Partnerships

COURT IN SESSION

BRING, Sydney / 2K GAMES / 2023

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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

Why is this work relevant for Music Entertainment?

A strategic partnership with Universal Music and Hip-Hops most exciting young talent broke 2K Games’ NBA 2K23 out of gaming circles and saw it explode with music fans globally.

Music videos are the most watched content on YouTube, presenting 2K Games with an opportunity to extend the reach and engagement of its flagship sports title among a switched-on and new fanbase.

Towering above more simplistic product placement and brand associations, the deeply integrated omni-channel partnership saw each artist create and release NBA 2K23 inspired tracks infused with sounds from the game, while virtual billboards integrated the artists into the game-world.

Background

NBA 2K has been the world’s No.1 basketball franchise for two decades. In 2022 the next generation of Basketball landed with NBA 2K23.

Every year, the ‘hardcore’ fans jump in, purchasing pre-sale or on Day One.

There are also countless fans on the periphery that have an affiliation to the broader culture of the game. With NBA 2K23, and a new brand positioning of ‘Answer the Call’, there was no better time for these fringe fans to step up.

2K’s brief was to broaden the product’s appeal beyond traditional gamers, to generate earned scale and cultural conversation, and to bring in a new audience sitting on the periphery of basketball culture.

With the goal of boosting sales after the initial game drop, the creative would be required to break on Black Friday - two months post-launch - to encourage new fans to trial the game during a key sales period.

Describe the strategy & insight

There is one music genre that has been part of basketball’s DNA for decades - Hip-Hop.

NBA 2K has always celebrated Hip-Hop through its soundtrack, with its annual in-game playlist reading like a greatest hits of the genre.

54% of all music streams for 13-39-year-olds are Hip-Hop, making it the biggest genre on the planet. This provided a heavy correlation for NBA 2K23’s target market of young, male Australians, aged 18-24.

This target market doesn’t live in traditional channels; they’re living life virtually and socially. The No.1 passion in Australia is undeniably music. And the love of basketball in Australia is at an all-time high, with participation rising 13.6% in 2022 to 1.3 million people.

The strategy was to celebrate basketball’s diverse culture, highlighting Hip-Hop as part of the sport’s – and videogame’s - DNA, in channels that are meaningful to our audience, to attract gamers in an authentic way.

Describe the creative idea

'Court in Session' was more than a marketing idea. It was, and is, a cultural platform designed to showcase NBA 2K23 to a new audience and excite them to ‘Answer the Call’.

To showcase the free-flow dynamic nature of basketball, we took the videogame’s unique sounds and fused them into original, modern Hip-Hop freestyle songs with some of Australia’s most revered talent.

Ball bounces became beats.

Slam Dunks became big drums.

Shoe squeaks - record scratches.

With the same sounds given to each of our three artists, it was up to them to ‘Answer the Call’ and leverage the sounds of the game in their own unique way.

The platform would celebrate the culture around the sport through music to take NBA 2K23 to new fans – not only showcasing its rich sounds, but celebrating the ‘flow’ of the game in an exciting way, stopping music fans in their tracks.

Describe the craft & execution

Access to proprietary streaming data led to the selection of a diverse trio of talent to maximise the campaign’s reach: Australia’s most streamed solo Hip-Hop artist, Chillinit; rapper and Malyangapa, Barkindji woman, BARKAA; and 19-year-old vocal prince, Sahxl.

Each artist was engaged to create a unique song that could be brought to life with the sounds of the game.

Four huge screens surrounded the artists for the video, with visuals of the game synced in real-time to the music to accentuate every sound effect.

The roll-out was treated like an official music release, leveraging artists’ fanbases. A further partnership with CADA, Australia’s largest Hip-Hop and R&B youth radio station, allowed us to drop the tracks to an engaged audience.

The three tracks were also released in-game, sitting on its official soundtrack alongside some of the world’s biggest names of the genre including Drake, Doja Cat, Jack Harlow and more.

Describe the results

PR carried the campaign around the world, with a combined reach of 132 million people, across 59 pieces of impactful coverage, including Billboard, Rolling Stone, and locally in Australia, News Corp’s major metro masthead, The Daily Telegraph.

Total media impressions amounted 3.25 million across all assets.

On average, the music videos were 34% watched to completion, with an average view time of 53 seconds. While Spotify audio ads received an 80% completion rate, driving 441k impressions.

Most importantly for the brand, the campaign brought a new audience into the game with the impact for 2K games leading to a 30% month-on-month increase in sales following the campaign’s launch.

Is there any cultural context that would help the jury understand how this work was perceived by people in the country where it ran?

Music is a huge part of basketball’s culture, with one genre having been part of the sport’s DNA for decades - Hip-Hop.

The connection to Hip-Hop isn’t just found in the real-world game. NBA 2K itself has always celebrated Hip-Hop through its soundtrack, with its annual in-game playlist sounding like a greatest hits of the genre.

Looking at streaming data, 54% of all streams for 13-39 year-olds are for Hip-Hop, making it the biggest genre on the planet - above even pop.

When it comes to media consumption, our target market doesn’t live in traditional channels; they’re living life virtually and socially, with the No.1 passion in Australia being music.

And when it comes to basketball in Australia, there has been a huge surge in the love of the game over the past few years, with a staggering 1.3 million people now playing competitively, up 13.6% in 2022.

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