As part of a promotion for its small business services, GoDaddy tapped the Toronto Raptors' star center Jonas Valanciunas for a campaign called 'Itty Bitty Ballers.' The campaign centers around a live website built with GoDaddy's new Website Builder. It also features a commercial that airs during Toronto Raptors' broadcasts showing a fictional small business selling miniature figurines of the Lithuanian legend.
Though the Itty Bitty Ballers business is a story invented for the ad campaign, GoDaddy created a real website that sells several different JV figures. The figures come in goofy poses that include the 7 foot tall center doing the splits, dribbling the globe, or riding a raptor. All revenue from the Itty Bitty Ballers sales is being donated to the MLSE Foundation, a Toronto charity that helps underprivileged kids join organized sports.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Itty Bitty Figurines
- Opportunity for innovative miniature manufacturing technologies to create hyper-realistic figurines for sports or entertainment fans.
- Athlete Promotions
- Athlete endorsements can be leveraged for creating unique promotions that increase brand awareness and help underprivileged communities.
- Small Business Marketing
- Opportunity for marketing-solutions providers to offer cost-effective marketing tools for small businesses such as GoDaddy's Website Builder.
Where This Applies
- Sports Merchandise
- Innovative miniature manufacturing and 3D printing has disruptive potential in boosting sports merchandise revenue and fan engagement.
- Celebrity Endorsements
- Companies use celebrity endorsements to drive sales and increase brand awareness, leading to greater opportunities in the celebrity endorsement space.
- Marketing Solutions
- The rise of small businesses creates a market opportunity for marketing-solution providers to offer cost-effective marketing tools for small businesses.
