HBO’s Super Bowl commercial hypes new series on 1980s Lakers

HBO is using a Super Bowl commercial to plug its forthcoming series about the 1980s-era Los Angeles Lakers in a move to raise interest with captive sports fans. The ad acts as a trailer to the show, called “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” which premiers March 6 and documents the rise and journey of the NBA team with a focus on Magic Johnson. The Lakers legend is also the subject of an Apple TV+ documentary called “They Call Me Magic” debuting April 22. Sunday’s Super Bowl will be played in Los Angeles. On Friday, HBO released the trailer to its new series which will be followed by a 30-second ad in the Super Bowl, which is essentially a cut-down version of the trailer. The commercial uses the Super Bowl to bring the show to its target audience–sports fans. The ad comes from the ad agency Motive. The spot features “the key people that turned this local L.A. team into a global phenomenon,” said Pia Chaozon Barlow, executive VP of originals marketing at HBO Max–including Johnson, played by Quincy Isaiah, and former Lakers owner Jerry Buss, played by a blonde-wigged and mustachioed John C. Reilly. The trailer and 30-second ad are part of a broader campaign for the series that focuses on Los Angeles, where HBO is running out-of-home ads with 13 posters, along with an L.A. red carpet premiere and the renovation of a basketball court in California’s Inglewood in March, the community that houses The Forum arena where the Lakers once played. The court will be designed by California artist David Flores, in partnership with Project Backboard, a nonprofit that restores basketball courts. Chaozon Barlow declined to share the spending, but called the campaign a “tentpole level campaign.” The series, with its nostalgic “stylized look” of the 1980s aims to explore the “cultural impact of the team and the intersection of music, fashion, entertainment,” said Chaozon Barlow. The campaign is targeting sports and basketball fans, who tend to be male, said Chaozon Barlow. The 30-second spot intends to lead viewers to the longer trailer.

HBO’s Super Bowl commercial hypes new series on 1980s Lakers

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