Don’t get me wrong, I respect the WNBA and the female athletes that comprise it. However, for a sport that is trying to earn the respect amongst a male dominated profession, the WNBA’s new campaign is downright embarrassing. The campaign features a couple of the league’s superstars saying negative remarks about the WNBA such as “No offense, but women’s basketball is a joke.” At the end of each spot the message “She wouldn’t say that. Would you?” come up on screen followed lastly with the WNBA’s new slogan: “Expect Great.” Now do me a favor and say that to yourself a couples times…”Expect Great.” Pretty damn awkward huh? The words blunt, boring and unclear come to mind as well. The only thing this campaign does well is completely confuse you while you juggle the words around in your head trying to understand its messaging. (Expect great because she wouldn’t say that? Would I say that? What does this have to do with me expecting great? I know its not grammatically correct but at least it could make sense!) Sadly with this campaign, I expect even LESS from the WNBA. Perhaps it should take some lessons from its big brother, the NBA.
Granted the NBA is much more established with its rich history and internationally recognized superstars but this year’s campaign was dramatic, exciting and fitting thanks to the genius of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The campaign features beautiful, iconic imagery of the NBA from Jordan’s emotional championship victories of the past (“Where grown men crying happens”) to the present day of Kobe’s dominant scoring (“Where 81 points happens”). My favorite is the image of the Warriors upset over #1 Dallas in the 2007 playoffs and the tag “Where never meant to happen…happens”. The main slogan of the campaign is fitting…”The NBA. Where Amazing Happens.” There aren’t any voice overs or visual tricks and it doesn’t need it. It captures your attention and sucks you in with great storytelling by using powerful visuals and a beautiful score. If only I could say the same for the women’s side. I hope the WNBA is taking notes…
