Bucks push global campaign to make Giannis top all-star
Fan videos, retweets help superstar to captain spot
The Milwaukee Bucks are pulling out all the stops and encouraging fans worldwide to cast all-star ballots early and often for their superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The goal: make Antetokounmpo the top vote-getter in the fan balloting ensuring that he would be the captain of the Eastern Conference squad.
“People around the world have developed an affection for him and understand how good he is,” said Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry.
Of course, the Bucks face a formidable obstacle in their quest: LeBron James, 33, of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the best player in the NBA, and a 13-time all-star. Right now, with less than a week to go, Antetokounmpo is playing from behind.
At age 23 and bidding for his second all-star appearance, Antetokounmpo has a much lower profile than James. He doesn’t have a major national TV ad. He has inked a deal with Nike but does not yet have his own sneaker on the market.
But the team feels it has an opportunity because of the international appeal of Antetokounmpo, especially in his native Greece.
That, combined with a strong local following, and, of course, a solid season make him an attractive candidate, Lasry said.
Antetokounmpo is known for engaging often with fans at home and on the road. He often makes after-game visits with contingents from Greek communities and stirs attention by doing things like sticking around a grocery store autograph signing long after the event was to have ended, Lasry noted.
“He’s not only a great player, he’s likable.”
The Bucks enjoyed a surge of optimism when the first round fan vote totals were released Jan. 4 and showed Antetokounmpo leading all vote-getters with 863,416, and ahead of James by 7,336 votes.
Team James took notice. The Cavs and their fans fired up their social media machine. When the second round of results was released Thursday, James moved into first place with 1,622,838 votes, followed by Antetokounmpo at 1,480,954.
Lasry, who has a background in Democratic politics that included a stint in the Obama White House, said the Bucks are tapping social media and using the unusual voting rules to support their top player.
They’re helping fans make their messages more entertaining by tweeting small video clips and graphics that fans can embed in their own tweets.
“We’re working with a variety of partners from throughout the world” to push votes for Antetokounmpo, Lasry said.
One key is to ensure that fans in other countries use social media in their native languages to whip up homegrown interest. Having those folks get into the balloting is more effective than messages cooked up by the Bucks team in their Schlitz Park office cubicles, the Bucks say.
“It’s not just something that’s come from a Google translator,” Lasry said.
“We’re working with a variety of partners from throughout the world” to push for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Alex Lasry, Bucks senior vice president
The Bucks also are using the all-star voting rules that allow multiple ways to cast ballots, a system that’s a far cry from one-man, one-vote. For instance, a retweet of a vote counts as a vote.
“If I get 500 retweets, that’s 500 votes,” Lasry said. Fans also can vote (daily if they wish) on Facebook, NBA.com, using the NBA app, Google or through commands to Amazon Alexa. Those in China can use Sina Weibo and Tencent.
“We provided multiple reminders to fans to vote across all channels to encourage voting on all platforms,” said Barry Baum, senior vice president of communications.
“As good as he is, we’re here to support him and provide support so that people recognize the greatness of our player,” Lasry said.
The all-star starters, including the two captains, will be announced Thursday. The game will be played Feb. 18 in Los Angeles.