Last Saturday was the day of the Black Mamba. Following two heavily discussed trailers, the much-anticipated Robert Rodriguez and Nike’s film ‘The Black Mamba’ starring Kobe Bryant, Kanye West, Bruce Willis and Danny Trejo finally debuted on the brand’s Facebook fan page on February 19.
As it was previously mentioned, in the nearly 6-minute mini film Kobe Bryant’s alter ego (the Black Mamba) is brought to life in a bold new way, completely in the style of Rodriguez’s action movies. The athlete is fighting against the Boss (Kanye West), who collects best players (or more precisely, their sneakers, where the athletes’ souls are then stored), but he hasn’t got Black Mamba yet and wants to fix it. “Some take souls, some take scalps, the Boss takes shoes,” explains Bruce Willis (Mr Suave). The dark forces lose the game, and in the end of the film the director is saying in a mocking tone that Black Mamba will return in spin-offs (the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th installments). The movie was created in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy of Portland, Ore., the agency which has developed a range of other projects for Nike, including the ‘Rise’ and ‘Boom’ ones.
“We’re excited to bring a world-class athlete like Kobe Bryant together with one of the best directors of our time, Robert Rodriguez, to create a film worthy of the big screen,” said Davide Grasso, Nike’s VP of Global Brand Marketing. “Nike is proud of its long history in the sport and culture of basketball, and through the film we celebrate this heritage and pay tribute to one of the game’s best—Kobe Bryant.”
The film was created to support the release of Nike’s Zoom Kobe VI collection. The new line was also promoted with another activity developed by Evolution Bureau—their Town of Los Fearless inviting fans of basketball to ‘decorate’ some areas of LA with self-created prints. To do this, they have to log via Facebook, choose a spot, make a poster using most Kobe’s fearless moments in the game, and then claim it (the work can be also shared on the social network). The Paint the Town Black Mamba experience was taken from digital to physical during the All-Star Weekend, when Nike and EVB projected user-created posters onto buildings around Los Angeles. They also encouraged fans to visit special kiosks where fans could pose to star in their own Fearless poster.
