From ____ to Brooklyn
The 6th Annual Awards
- Best Athlete Storytelling
- Best Documentary: Long-Form
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
The Brooklyn Nets created a long-form, premium episodic series “From ___ to Brooklyn” that tells the story of a player’s life both on and off-the-court and how they ultimately got to Brooklyn. The Nets’ content team traveled across the country, following players, and conducting more than 25 interviews with people from their lives – family, former coaches, etc. - going in-depth, telling the story of their lives from childhood to present day in Brooklyn.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
The Brooklyn Nets’ commitment to showcasing player personalities and introducing them to new audiences to help grow the team’s fan base might not be a new idea, but the depth of storytelling, the unique variety of content, and the buy-in at all levels of the organization has been unparalleled. The Nets prioritized audience development on YouTube, focusing on highlighting players, to authentically story tell off-the-court in deeper and more impactful ways.
Between 20+ staff members following a player across the country for months getting to know them, “From ___ the Brooklyn” features more than 25 interviews with people from their lives—family, former coaches, etc. – and humanizes these individuals by telling the story of their lives from childhood to present day in Brooklyn. The richness of the episodes reflects the commitment the Nets made to go as in-depth as possible with each participant and the engagement the team has seen around the series showcases the fan interest in player-centric content.
Objective
An organizational goal for the Brooklyn Nets during the 2023-24 NBA season was to further cultivate generational fandom for the team, and establishing authentic connections to our players was a key strategy in doing so. To help achieve this goal, the Nets’ content team focused on showcasing the lives and personalities of players off-the-court, as a way for fans to develop more personalized connections. The Nets prioritized audience development on YouTube, and spent months creating a long-form, premium episodic series “From ___ to Brooklyn” that tells the story of a player’s life both on and off-the-court and how they ultimately got to Brooklyn.
The Nets’ content team traveled across the country, following players, and conducting more than 25 interviews with people from their lives—family, former coaches, etc.—going in-depth, telling the story of their lives from childhood to present day in Brooklyn. Another business goal was to create organic alignment between the Nets’ objectives and those of their corporate partners. The docuseries provided a seamless opportunity to do so with Qatar Airways who was looking to reach the Nets passionate social following, while highlighting stories rooted in journeys/travel.
Strategy & Execution
Historically, sports content and coverage on social media has been very game and highlight-driven, but the way sports fans watch and consume content has changed drastically over the past few years. The Nets saw an opportunity to adapt their content strategy to match the ever-evolving interests of the next generation of sports fans, focusing more on player-specific content. Establishing authentic connections to players and showcasing their lives and personalities off-the-court is a way for fans to develop more personalized connections with the team, and the Nets went more in-depth with the “From ___ to Brooklyn” series to further cultivate generational fandom for the team.
We have also focused on better understanding players’ personal passion points and what makes them unique, allowing us to unlock new stories and formats of content to share with fans. Overall, player storytelling and personality content—including the “From the Brooklyn” series—has become one of the Nets’ top content categories with more than three-times the average post engagement for the 2023-24 season. The more than 40 videos in this category have combined for 78.2M video views and 7M engagements this season to-date.
Organizations
- Brooklyn Nets
Links
Featured
- Cam Johnson
- Dorian Finney-Smith
- Mikal Bridges
Credits
Charlie Widdoes
Vice President, Content
BSE Global
Matt Flores
Director, Content Production
BSE Global
Jason Angoy
Producer
BSE Global
Tony Eaton
Digital Content Producer/Editor
BSE Global
Josh Ni
Editor
BSE Global
Noah Lau
Content Producer
BSE Global
Taj Martinez
Senior Manager of Media
BSE Global
Jonathan Edmond
Coordinator, Media Management
BSE Global
Tom Garbett
Manager, Photography
BSE Global
Alex Hawley
Freelance Editor
Tony Johansson
Freelance Photography
Steve Roll
Freelance Editor
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 6th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 6, 2024 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
