The former NBA star was the creative and driving force behind the spot, which features several top US sports stars.
Recently retired NBA star Kobe Bryant has assembled an all-star cast of American sports royalty to promote new sports brand BodyArmor.
The challenger brand, which has lofty ambitions to take on market leader Gatorade, is launching its largest ad campaign yet, and Bryant has taken a hands on role, acting as creative director and narrator of the 60 second spot.
Bryant, who has a major stake in the six-year-old startup, tells Ad Age he came up with the tagline 'Obsession is Natural' while playing his last NBA game – a match in which he netted 60 points to help the LA Lakers beat Utah Jazz.
He says he crafted the words when signing a towel for BodyArmor co-founder Mike Repole during the match, which described both his obsession for basketball and Repole's for creating companies.
Obsession is the theme for the campaign with appearances by several stars, including golfing sensation Dustin Johnson and Houston Rockets star James Harden.
"It's one thing to inspire athletes to want to be great and you see a lot of brands doing that," Bryant told Ad Age. "What we are trying to do instead is challenge. And there's a big difference between inspiring and challenging."
BodyArmor has about a 2% share of the US sports drink market, which is dominated by PepsiCo's Gatorade (with a 75% share) and Coca-Cola's Powerade (20%).
Bryant has a track record providing creative input into ads; he helped write his own ads for Nike. Bryant teamed up with former Wieden & Kennedy copywriter Brian Ford for the BodyArmor spot.
