Calm gets sleepy with LeBron James and Wu-Tang’s RZA in new campaign

LeBron James is getting to be a regular in the advertising world. Last week, he appeared in a new ad for Tonal, the at-home fitness brand, a week after his cameo in a spot for the NBA. A few months back, he starred in a spot for Mtn Dew. Now, he’s following up such marketing with a new spot for Calm, the meditation brand. The commercial, created with James’ own agency, SpringHill Co., is part of Calm's multi-year partnership with the basketball star that began in 2019. New this time—the inclusion of the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, who appears alongside James in the 30-second sleep-focused spot. “My fellow risk takers and move makers—what happened to us? We hustle and grind without resting our mind,” James says in the commercial, as RZA stars as a type of celestial guru urging him to “sleep.” James concludes the spot by saying that “greatness lies on the other side of sleep.” In addition to the new commercial, James recorded a “Sleep Story” that has a score from RZA. And James will once again lend his voice to Calm's “Train Your Mind” audio series. “We wanted to highlight that part of our goal as a company is to destigmatize mental health, and sleep is a key element to that,” said Monica Austin, who joined Calm in April as VP of marketing after working at Netflix. She noted that sleep is “LeBron’s essential superpower.” The campaign, timed to debut just as the NBA season gets underway this week, will include national broadcast TV, digital and social work and out-of-home ads that show James lying down. It's Calm’s biggest financial campaign of the year, Austin said. “Young men, especially today, are driven by this idea of hustle culture expectations about how men need to be showing up in the world,” she said. “Our belief is that non-stop hustle is not leading to greatness — it’s leading to burnout and exhaustion.” Calm, which was founded nine years ago, has made a name for itself as a resource at a time when people are plagued by stress and anxiety brought on by issues including COVID-19, climate change, social justice and politics. At the end of last year, the company had raised enough capital to be valued at $2 billion. Yet Calm has a string of competitors, including Headspace, that have also captured a share of the meditation and sleep category. The brand has been working with SpringHill since 2019, according to a spokeswoman. The agency, which is co-run by James and longtime friend Maverick Carter, recently inked a private equity deal that values it at $750 million.

Calm gets sleepy with LeBron James and Wu-Tang’s RZA in new campaign

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