In Defense of Puppets

I don’t know that much about the NBA. I know that LeBron’s not going to stay in Cleveland much longer. I know that Kobe looks a little less like Charles Barkley this week than he did last week. And I know my oldest friend once dated a woman who dated Tim Legler.

Like I said, I don’t know much.

But I do know something about PR, marketing and the sports media world, and there have been some interesting developments on those fronts, relative to the NBA Finals.

Nike, in its infinite wisdom, assumed that Kobe and LeBron would meet in the Finals, and bought airtime accordingly. This is where we pick up the story – with ads and puppets.

Okay, what just happened? Well, not all that much. It’s LeBron. As a puppet. Doing what LeBron does. Only in a goofy, puppet way. Get it?

Here’s another one with Puppet LeBron watching a video, only to find out that Kobe taped over it:

People find these ads either very funny (“Hey look – LeBron! As a puppet! I like both those things!”) or super annoying (“Ugh. LeBron. As a puppet. Wonder if the puppet almost got swept by the Magic, too.”). Mike and Mike dumped all over them on ESPN Radio one morning. Deadspin piled on. And we won’t even get into the heavy-duty eye rolling from my wife when it comes to these ads.

I basically ignored them at first, and it wasn’t until the third one I saw that they started to leave an impression on me. I’ll explain why in a second. First, the video:

Annoying little kid, right? Puppet LeBron sure looks annoyed, and I would be, too. But I’m not. In fact, these ads remind me of another Nike ad from about 18 months ago. Do you remember this ad?

Totally different styles. Totally different audiences. But they’re both catchy, repetitive ads – the music in the “List of Demands” ad and the little kid in the puppet ads both work as a hook to go with the visuals (world-class athletes training in one version, a stockroom full of Nike boxes in the other).

Did either ad make me want to buy stuff? Is that still the point of advertising? I’d say no on both counts. Nike’s got my attention, and I assume they’d like to use that attention the next time I’m looking for running or tennis gear (my sports of choice, on those rare days I do anything at all).

That’s all well and good, but more than my attention, Nike needs to stay relevant. And they did so here. LeBron’s not even playing in the Finals, and his puppet is probably the third biggest story in the league (okay, maybe fourth behind Kobe winning his own title, Dwight Howard’s not-quite-ready-for-primetime performance and Tim Donaghy’s prison break).

So Nike failed all the way to the bank with a strategic ad buy that looked smart, stupid and then smart all over again in less than two weeks.

Then again, maybe two weeks from now they’ll cut a baseball ad with Raul Ibanez, A-Rod and Manny. Either way, it’ll probably be worth watching.