These guys were the anti Knicks. They were a team. And that included their fans. They weren't above signing autographs or hanging around to shoot the breeze. They were accessible. The experience of a Nets game felt inclusive - and good.
"Bring It" is an example of one season’s program. It urged the team and the fans to bring everything they had to every game, to celebrate local pride in a local context, and to sell the hell out of every available seat.
We did everything from designing the season’s tickets, to paid media like outdoor and print, to events around the games, to fan-hosted, player-attended season ticket sales events.
When we won the New Jersey Nets biz, the team’s main owner besides Jay Z was Bruce Ratner, who’s day job was developing large areas of Brooklyn - like the MetroTech Center, for example.
His dream was to build a stadium flanked by a series of high rise residential and commercial buildings on the site of the old Atlantic rail yards - and for The New Jersey Nets to take up residence as The Brooklyn Nets.
The architect was Frank Gehry. And his plans were like Ultimate Extreme Gehry - Thrash Steroid Version - 2.0
We got to work on promoting the development to Brooklyn, on promoting Brooklyn to corporations, and on selling the naming rights to the few who could afford it.
Clips from a promotional video and an interview with Frank Gehry, showing a model of the sculptural wonder he was planning to build, are included at the foot of the scrollable gallery.
Oh well, at least we got the Brooklyn Nets...