NBA fans in Vancouver have been joined by local apparel brand Vancity Original in their efforts to get a team back on Canada’s west coast.
A new campaign launched on this year’s NBA Draft Day, June 22, and was developed with the Vancouver office of Zulu Alpha Kilo, which opened last year. It comes on the heels of remarks from NBA commissioner Adam Silver that the league is considering expansion – and that there is interest on this side of the border. The goal, according to Vancity Original founder Jeff Martin, was to “help get Vancouver back on the radar as the perfect city for a future team,” by showing that not only is there a fan base for the NBA in the market, but also the financial support.
The apparel brand is doing so by offering one of 15 exclusive “Vanback” jerseys for $200 million each.
If it seems the steep price might only be accessible to Vancouver’s elite, that’s the point. The campaign is specifically targeting wealthy people with ties to the city, such as Ryan Reynolds and Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. Once all of the jerseys are “sold,” the campaign will have $3 billion in pledges, which totals the average valuation of an NBA team.
One of the jerseys, encased in plexiglass, is on display at the Vancity Original store in Vancouver, but fans nationwide can get a look at the jersey through a microsite dedicated specifically to the campaign – or by watching a promo video revealing the design. On the site, NBA fans who aren’t billionaires can get a digital version of the jersey to show their support for the campaign’s goal online.
The goal of the effort is to show that, despite the league’s first attempt in the city – the ill-fated Vancouver Grizzlies, who played there for six years before packing their bags and moving to Memphis in 2001 – a second go might find greater support and better success with a stronger fanbase spurred by recent Canadian success and surging interest in the sport. But fan interest isn’t enough to build a franchise. Someone has to bankroll it.
“We’ve got the fans,” explains Martin. “We just need some billionaires to help us out.”
The campaign isn’t coming out of left field. During its most recent municipal election, Vancouver mayoral candidate Fred Harding pledged to bring an NBA franchise back to the market. Harding lost that election, but the sentiment didn’t die with his campaign. And the words of then-Raptors coach Nick Nurse, who oversaw Toronto’s only championship season – and helped lead something of a renaissance for the team under “We The North” banners – only added fuel to the fire when he said a franchise would likely perform far better out west the second time around.
“Here in Vancouver, we could see firsthand how much our city wants an NBA team back. You see it and hear it everywhere,” David Tremblay, managing director of Zulu’s Vancouver office, says. “Our aim is to start a serious conversation with those who have the means to make this a reality.”
“We want to contribute to the city,” adds Zak Mroueh, the agency’s founder and creative chairman. “We’ve seen how basketball culture has grown with the Raptors’ success and think Vancouver deserves that shot again too. It’d be amazing for the city and Canada to have two teams up north.”
The campaign is rolling out across paid social and earned media, with a particular focus on sports enthusiasts on YouTube and Instagram.
