A lot of NBA players have pre-game rituals. For some, it’s habit, for others superstition. Jason Terry wore the shorts of the opposing team to bed the night before each game. Kevin Garnett ate a PB&J before every game. While Kevin Durant unties and reties his shoes on the scorer’s table just before tipoff.
But Warriors guard Klay Thompson keeps it simple; he reads the newspaper. Before every game, the Warriors PR team puts a fresh newspaper in front of his locker for Klay to read before tipoff. On the road, any paper will do. When he’s at home, Klay prefers the local East Bay Times.
The Bay Area News Group owns East Bay Times along with the Mercury News and Marin IJ. And they came to us and asked for a campaign to help boost sagging newspaper readership among a younger demographic.
After a little research, we found out about Klay’s story. And we decided to just tell it honestly without getting in the way.
Klay’s gotten attention recently for his dance club moves in China and a commercial where he bathes in a bathtub full of shoes. But this is different.
An NBA star who reads an old-school newspaper shows a guy who’s clearly a lot deeper than he previously appeared. And maybe a generation of people who have foregone traditional news organizations in favor of news via social media will sit up, take notice and start a new ritual of their own.
Thanks to John Madden’s Goal Line Studio, DP Lou Weinert, Producer Ben Latimer and a great client team lead by Olga Mitina.