Espn I will use this year’s NBA finals to create its big bet on the consumers directly.
The sports giant will launch a new brand campaign with the slogan “Sports Forever” during the series, leaning on its heritage on television and preparing the field for its “next era” on all the devices that viewers choose.
The spot, which you can watch below, presents a clip for the very first ESPN broadcast on September 7, 1979, with the Lee Leonard anchor presenting the “Sports Heaven” viewers. In the background, while Leonard’s clips are interspersed with current athletes, teams and games, an anthemic version of the “Dadada, Dadada” sound of ESPN plays in the background.
“This is literally the first broadcast, the first words never pronounced on the ESPN broadcast,” explains Sinan Dagli de BSSP, the creation agency behind the campaign. “And we talked about it like almost this prophecy that it is, by proposing this oracle which leaves the following four decades from the start, it is not at all modified, that is what he said, and it is perfect for inaugurating us from the new era.”
The Forever sports campaign will launch an extended marketing effort for ESPN, going to launch the ESPN streaming service later this year.
“Sports Forever is a campaign that underlines that being a fan is not only a momentary commitment, it is a life trip, and that ESPN has now been on this trip for more than four decades, with many generations of fans also connecting them to sport,” also explains the senior ESPN vice-president of Jo Fox. “It was the kind of starting point, and we wanted to make sure that we are breaking our share of voice and really striking the inheritance and leadership of ESPN in the sports area, before making our product launch later in the fall.”
The inaugural place ends with a sports fan on the sofa, winning their phone while the Espn carillon “Dadada, Dadada” plays. A block of text indicates “fall 2025: the next era begins”, creating the streaming service.
“We will have a very large launch campaign in the fall, which will talk about the two jobs we have to make. One is, of course, to launch our direct service to consumption, and this is something that we will have to explain a lot because we have had such a long history in the cable pack. “So there is a lot to say in this messaging when we are going to launch, but we wanted to make sure before doing it and we started talking about these fairly complete messages in our campaign that we reminded consumers, we reminded fans, that ESPN has authority in this space and leadership in this space to really give that to the fans, to give them an incredible sporting experience.”
You can look at the first point of ESPN Sports Forever brand, below.