The Day Sports Stood Still is breakthrough work because it represents a new model for brands. Waffle Iron Entertainment and our company invested in a true piece of entertainment that promotes Nike's values and drafts off its cultural impact. With entertainment-first storytelling at the forefront, HBO acquired the film, despite never before accepting a film that had been funded in partnership with a brand. The brand helps promote the film, and the film helps promote the brand. A true paradigm shift from interruptive advertising to what feels like the real future for how brands will connect with their audiences.

Nike created an independent production company called “Waffle Iron Entertainment” to invest in entertainment projects dedicated to highlighting the power and impact of sport on our society. HBO is a premium, ad-free cable network that does not traditionally engage with brands in any capacity. Their threshold for acquisition is purely whether the project is entertaining and executed at the quality consistent with their other films. Despite these impediments, HBO acquired “The Day Sports Stood Still” believing the story to be incredibly moving and timely.

Director Antoine Fuqua and NBA All-Star Chris Paul provide a unique window into one of the most challenging years the sports world has ever faced. Not only was Chris playing in the game that got cancelled due to COVID and brought the whole league to a standstill, as head of the NBA Players’ Union he was the person tasked with trying to bring it back. Just days after the NBA announced the postponement, we sprang into action to begin documenting Chris’s experience as well as other athletes across the world in every sport. Then, a very different tragedy occurred: the murder of George Floyd. Suddenly the whole country was forced to reckon with the grim reality of police violence and racism. The question for Chris and the rest of the sports world changed from “how” do we play to “should” we play at all.

The strategy is to broaden the brand’s reach outside of traditional advertising channels and support entertainment projects that align with its core value and message. Through co-marketing efforts, the brand can then draft off the success and cultural resonance of the film to maintain its position as champion of bringing people together through sport.

“The Day Sports Stood Still” is an emotional deep dive into what it was like to be a professional athlete in 2020, not just coping with the global pandemic, but also the responsibility of athletes to utilize their platforms to speak out against racism. Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Antoine Fuqua and produced by Academy Award-winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, this documentary recounts all the twists and turns from the day the NBA was postponed to the day it came back in “the bubble” in Orlando, FL.

The trailer dropped wide on March 11, 2020 and the full film premiered on HBO on March 24th, available to its over 124 million subscribers. While most brand marketing efforts represent sunk costs, in *this case* the underlying investment turned a profit. It’s an entirely new model by which brands can engage with their audiences.