Fubo Rebrand Campaign: Kevin Garnett, Mark Sanchez, Ryan Reynolds, Butt Fumble
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 07:47PM By Barry Janoff
UPDATED March 23, 2023: FuboTV live-streaming platform has signed a deal to add MLB.TV to its lineup of live baseball coverage.
MLB.TV is expected to launch on Fubo ahead of MLB’s Opening Day on March 30, joining the current carriage of MLB Network, MLB Strike Zone, RSNs, local broadcast networks and national sports networks ESPN and FS1.
The move comes as FuboTV is rebranding to Fubo supported by a multi-media campaign.
March 21, 2023: FuboTV sports and entertainment live-streaming platform today launched a multi-platform marketing campaign to support the rebranding of its consumer-facing products as Fubo.
The national humorous campaign, “If Sports Fans Built a Streaming Service,” stars Kevin Garnett, 15-time NBA All-Star, NBA Champion and Hall of Famer; and former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez.
It is co-produced by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Productions, which has an investment in Fubo as part of a deal signed in 2022 that will see Maximum Effort produce content and launch a Fubo Maximum Effort Network.
“FuboTV has grown in size and scope, with multiple brands under our global umbrella, since we launched our core cable TV replacement product in 2015,” David Gandler, Fubo co-founder and CEO, said via the company.
“Alongside our continued growth, our consumers have affectionately shortened our name to Fubo and we feel that name represents the premium media brand we are today.”
The campaign, launching during a busy sports month that includes March Madness, NBA, NHL, the World Baseball Classic Final (March 21) and MLB Opening Day (March 30), “highlights Fubo’s unique product experience, built for the most hungry, competitive and digital-first sports fan,”according to the company.
“We’re building on this momentum with an updated visual identity and new ad campaign, created in partnership with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort, to continue to drive profitable growth as we head into baseball season,” said Gandler.
According to Reynolds via Fubo, “The reason Maximum Effort believes in Fubo is it’s the one product that captures the best of cable and the best of streaming, while having the very meaningful differentiator of live sports.
“While cable fights cord-cutters and streaming services fight the cash content war, Fubo is building an experience and suite of services that can win.”
Two anchor spots enhance Fubo’s mantra.
In “If Sports Fans Built A Streaming Service,” Garnett is conducting a meeting among Fubo staffers seeking ways to get the rebranding message to consumers.
Garnett — whose nickname when he played in the NBA was “The Big Ticket” — wants to call the campaign “The Big Kick-It” because “you’re helping people kick cable. Imagine people chanting ‘The Big Kick-It’ as you dominate the paint,” much to the confusion of the others in the room.
In another version of the spot, he uses a graph called “The Big Three” — which he was part of when he was with the Boston Celtics — to show how Fubo "combines Live TV, Movies and Shows and More Local Sports."
In “Leave Cable Behind” with Sanchez, two Fubo employees are talking about how with Fubo’s “My Stuff” feature people can rewatch all the NFL games they recorded, including the “Minnesota Viking’s comeback (winning 39-36 against the Indianapolis Colts after being down 33-0 at halftime), JJ Watt’s final game and The Butt Punt (when Miami Dolphin’s kicker Thoas Morstead punted a ball directly into the butt of a teammate).”
Sanchez overhears the conversation and thinks it’s a reference to his own legendary and infamous “Butt Fumble,” when as quarterback for the New York Jets in 2012 he lost the ball on a running play when he ran into the butt of teammate Brandon Moore.
“Oh, so the My Stuff feature is for saving butt-related content,” says Sanchez. “I thought it was for keeping your favorite TV shows and movies all in one place.”
Reynolds seems to be a good luck charm when it comes to corporate strategies.
Last week, wireless company Mint Mobile, in which he is a minority owner and marketing spokesperson, was sold to T-Mobile for $1.35 billion.
In 2020, Aviation Gin, the brand in which he is an investor and spokesperson, was acquired by Diageo for $610 million.
He is also a majority owner with actor Rob McElhenney in Welsh-based Wrexham AFC, a fifth-tier soccer club to which they have given major media prominence in the U.S.
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