When LeBron James decided to come home to Cleveland this summer, it was a cause for celebration among Cavaliers fans — and also among the many companies the four-time MVP has endorsement deals with. A feel-good story like James’ homecoming is a prime opportunity to pull out all the stops with an epic commercial that doubles as a short film, much in the same vein as recent spots from Nike and Samsung.
That’s exactly what Beats did in its new spot “Akron,” a two-and-a-half-minute tribute to LeBron’s hometown narrated by his mother, Gloria (h/t The Verge):
There’s a lot going on here — LeBron working out (while wearing his Beats in-ear headphones, obviously) intercut with shots of Akron and inspirational music to drive home the homecoming theme.
Beats headphones have been in the news a lot lately in connection with the sports world, mostly due to their ban from football. The NFL’s deal with Bose has led to several players getting fined for wearing Beats on camera. That’s not the case with the NBA, apparently.
Given how big a story James’ homecoming is, we can expect a lot of ads like this over the next year.