Every year, fans, athletes and the media gather in a flurry of excitement to watch 60 basketball hopefuls be drafted into the NBA. What if we could change that experience and enable people to watch it all from an unprecedented point of view — through the eyes of the athlete? Without brand support or a budget, we made it happen. The #2 pick of the night was drafted in Google Glass. To make this scenario possible, we selected Indiana Hoosier Victor Oladipo via a strategic partnership with Thuzio, secured a pair of Google Glass through a media partnership with The Verge, and set the stage at the upcoming, Brooklyn-hosted NBA draft. Next, we created exclusive content to be used to interrupt the Draft conversation. Beginning two days before the player’s crossover from college hoops star to NBA hopeful, Oladipo began capturing footage that he dubbed the ‘V.O. Show.’ With a core team in the know, we hoped Oladipo would accept his new team’s cap, shake the Commissioner’s hand and show the world the moment only those drafted into the NBA have experienced. In doing so, we would overhaul the social conversation surrounding the #NBADraft. Drafted in Glass from Carrot on Vimeo.Oladipo’s Glass appearance was short-lived. Footage from his first-person recording revealed that a representative from the NBA asked Victor to stop filming, just an hour before his name was called. But, all was not lost. The world had already seen the player that had set out to be Drafted in Glass. At 5:30PM, two hours before the first pick’s name was called, @NBA tweeted a picture of Oladipo wearing the most-talked about accessory of the night — Google Glass — while en route to the arena. Just 30 minutes later, @TheNBAonESPN vined Oladipo mingling in the greenroom with Glass. During this time, Oladipo became a global trending topic on Twitter with over 15,000 mentions... lasting for 80 minutes. He dominated the social conversation among the top five picks of the night before the ceremony even began. From the second the NBA revealed Oladipo in Glass, we distributed behind the scenes footage, GIFs and photos to further feed the real-time fascination. The next morning, a Mashable exclusive and infographic revealed just how successful the conversation takeover was. In a billion impression conversation surrounding the #NBADraft, Oladipo earned 16% of the digital audience, with 7.7 million impressions directly relating to Google Glass. Globally, he dominated headlines about technology, innovation and fashion from outlets including GQ, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, USA Today, Fox, NBA.com, Fast Company and The Verge. By granting unprecedented access, Oladipo was rewarded with unparalleled attention, totaling over 300 million impressions.
Case Study: http://carrot.is/creative/drafted_in_glass Mashable Exclusive: http://mashable.com/2013/06/28/nba-draft-victor-oladipo-google-glass/
