Bleacher Report had never done an ad. It was too busy doing what it does best, which was churn out great sports content all day. But it had reached a point where it needed to define itself. So we got the original rappers behind “Alphabet Aerobics” – Blackalicious – to rewrite a “sports alphabet” for Bleacher Report from A to Z.
The result was a weird, beautiful music video.
Blackalicious rewrote the lyrics to their original hit “Alphabet Aerobics” and gave us a letter by letter breakdown. Then we set the track to 26 different animation styles, one for each letter of the alphabet.
We timed the video to launch – and be commented on – during the halftime show “Inside The NBA.” Simultaneously, we split the full video into 30-second increments that played over the course of a 4-hour NFL football game. The video has continued to play on TV (Adult Swim, TNT, and truTV) throughout the fall and is still playing today.
“Sports Alphabet” has 2+ million views on YouTube, got retweeted by YouTube itself because the brand liked it so much, and is pulling in dough for Blackalicious while they tour the country with their new hit.