Our objective as an organization was to surprise our back-to-back NBA MVP, Nikola Jokic, in his hometown of Sombor, Serbia. As a content team, our goal was to make sure to capture the moment our humble star learned the news first hand and to be able to show the world how emotional the experience was.
The opportunity to bring an MVP trophy to Serbia is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. In fact, it has never happened before. We couldn't pass up this opportunity of surprising the back-to-back MVP with his major award in the place he loves most and around the people he cares for the most. It's not the easiest to get to Sombor, Serbia, much less bring the MVP trophy halfway across the globe... but Jokic's reaction made it all worth it. We had no idea how he would react to a surprise visit at home. There were a lot of moving parts and uncertainty in the project. Our strategy was to put ourself in the best position to take photos and video of the highly anticpated surprise. We then quickly turned a video around, selected photos, and came up with a publishing strategy so we could be the ones to get this amazing moment out into the world first.
While we strive to provide our fans with content that allows them to get a sense of who our players are off the court, Nikola can be harder to portray genuinely—having the opportunity to debut this video added yet another layer of authenticity to this humble star’s unparalleled persona. This content was a massive success for us in these terms as we captured Nikola in his most natural state and showcased the raw emotion of this moment. From his arrival fresh off the track on his horse carriage, to his emotional acceptance of the trophy, the scene was truly more than we could’ve asked for or ever planned. It was exceptionally well received by fans and shared across multiple platforms and outlets after we posted it the night of his second MVP announcement. The intimate gathering displayed Nikola’s unique connections and allowed viewers to feel like they too were in Sombor. This video became an instant classic and is iconic in the minds of not only Nuggets fans but the NBA community as a whole.
