Mr. Motivation: FanDuel Names Hoops Hero/Heel Christian Laettner ‘CMO’
Monday, January 8, 2018 at 03:16PM By Barry Janoff
January 8, 2018: FanDuel knows a lot about fantasy sports.
Christian Laettner knows about beating competitors in the clutch.
The two have joined forces, with FanDuel launching a humorous video series, “Christian Laettner: Office Motivator,” and also naming him the company’s CMO — the faux position of chief motivational officer.
The multi-media effort follows Laettner as he seeks to motivate people to improve their lives using examples from his career, even if the people he’s speaking to don’t really know who he is.
It will air on Mondays with the social media hash tag, #MotivationalMondays and #FanDuelCMO.
“Christian has a reputation for being intense and not caring what people think of him,” Justine Sacco, vp-communications for FanDuel, said in a statement. “But he has this amazing sense of humor and loved the opportunity to poke fun at his persona for laughs.”
FanDuel itself needed motivation when a merger last year between FanDuel and rival DraftKings was blocked by the FTC last year.
Laettner is best known for his clutch shots while a member of the Duke University basketball team, most notably in the 1992 NCAA Div. 1 Men’s regional final against Kentucky, when he hit a turnaround jumper as time expired to give Duke a 104-103 win. Duke went on to win the NCAA title.
As the 1992 NCAA player of the year, Laettner was the only collegian selected for the "Dream Team" that won gold in the Summer Olympics.
In the NBA Draft, he was selected third overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, behind Shaquille O’Neal (Orlando Magic) and Alonzo Mourning (Charlotte Hornets).
He played 13 seasons in NBA for six different teams, was named an All-Star Game selection in 1997 while with the Atlanta Hawks and scored 11,121 points and had 5,806 rebounds.
But Laettner is also known for his competitive — some would say overbearing — attitude, and being reviled by fans of opposing teams.
A poll conducted by ESPN in 2013 named him ”the most hated player in college basketball history.” In 2015, he was the focus of an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary, I Hate Christian Laettner.
In a FanDuel spot this past holiday season, he played Santa and granted kids their wishes — except for one young girl who was wearing a University of Kentucky T-shirt.
And that is what comes across in the new FanDuel series.
In the first episode, “Christian Laettner: Office Motivator,” FanDuel explains, “(We) are always looking for ways to inspire and motivate our interns. So we decided to bring in one of the most competitive athletes of all time, Christian Laetnner.”
Laettner runs into a conference room with group of interns seated around a table.
“Are you awake!“ he shouts. “Do I have your attention now! I know what you all are thinking — Oh my God, it’s Christian Laetnner! “
We get a shot of the interns, who don’t know him from Adam and look like deers in a headlight.
Laettner continues. “I’m here for one reason: To make you better competitors.
“Rule No. 1: Always be on your toes.”
He throws a mini-basketball at one guy’s head, who responds, “This guy is friggin’ crazy.”
“Rule No. 2: Never be afraid to take The Shot. The Shot. (Again, no response.) Don’t tell me you don’t know what The Shot is!? Hello. 1992 NCAA tournament.”
Even a reenactment with the interns doesn't help. One young woman responds, “I was born in 1996.”
Finally, Laettner is motivated to shout, "Do you guys not know who the f*&# I am!?” (See the full first spot here.)
According to Laettner, “When they called me with the funny concept of motivating office people, I knew it was the perfect fit.
“I got a chance to throw basketballs at millennials, show off my legendary Ping-Pong skills and, above all make people laugh,” said Laettner. “The videos were a lot of fun to film and I love that I can now add CMO to my Twitter profile.”
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