Bulls, Bears and Gatorade!

The Bulls launched “Run With Us” on Facebook last week

The Chicago Bulls are giving fans a new way to follow their beloved basketball team into the locker room and beyond as they enter a rebuilding season as evidenced by the one and done departure of Dwayne Wade to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Last week, the team launched a new season-long series titled “Run With Us” on Facebook Watch, which is now live for everyone in the US on mobile, desktop and Facebook TV.

Similar in scope to HBO’s football training camp series, “Hard Knocks,” this is a BullsTV in-house produced behind-the-scenes series documenting the Bulls throughout the 2017/18 season.

On their Facebook page, the team says, “Enjoy never-before-seen access to the team, as we watch them train, compete & grow with each other.” This includes veterans and new members, Lauri Markkanen, Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine. Watch the trailer below:

The series of videos coincides with the Bulls’ new advertising campaign featuring the tagline, “With Us,” that encourages fans to rally around the team’s bright future. The campaign features variations of “With Us” — “Run With Us,” “Inspire With Us,” “Grow With Us,” “Cheer With Us” and so on.

 

Bears to remain with WBBM

The other “rebuilding” team, the Bears and CBS Radio announced Monday that they would sign a multi-year extension to keep the team’s radio broadcast rights on WBBM Newsradio 780 & 105.9 FM. All according to a statement from CBS Chicago.

WBBM has been the radio home of the Bears, preseason regular-season games as well as postgame shows since since 2000. This will now continue.

“All of us at CBS Radio Chicago are thrilled to continue our 17-year partnership with the NFL’s most preeminent franchise,” said Tim Pohlman, senior vice president and market manager of CBS Radio in Chicago. He added, “We thank the McCaskey family, Ted Phillips and everyone at the Chicago Bears for their commitment to keeping WBBM Newsradio 780 & 105.9 FM as part of this first-class organization for years to come.”

Also Read: DDB, State Farm kick off spot with Aaron Rodgers

In addition to game broadcasts, WBBM will also air the “Bears Coaches Show” every Monday during the season at 6:30 p.m., hosted by Jeff Joniak. Bears All-Access will air weekly throughout the year on WSCR-670, featuring Bears color analyst Tom Thayer of WBBM Newsradio 780 & 105.9 FM and sideline reporter Zach Zaidman of WSCR. All six CBS Radio station in Chicago will also air a Bears noon update daily during the football season according to the report.

Source: CBS Chicago

 

Gatorade to launch first scripted series

After being a major player for years during sports advertising, the Chicago-based brand is now getting into the scripted game. The announcement was made during New York Advertising Week.

According to a report in The Drum, the brand is teaming with AwesomenessTV to launch a sports series called “Versus,” a six-episode featuring girl lacrosse players, with the hope of creating a compelling story and supporting young women in sports.

“There’s no ‘Friday Night Lights’ for girls,” said Kenny Mitchell, head of consumer engagement at Gatorade. “The leadership skills you develop, the collaboration and teamwork, learning how to win and learning how to lose, all of those things are important.”

The Drum says “Versus” focuses on two rival lacrosse players, Madison, played by Camille Hyde, and Lauren, played by Maddie McCormick, who are forced to play on the same team in a big summer tournament attended by major college prospects.

“Lacrosse for us was actually partially birthed out of the desire to be unexpected,” Mitchell said. “What we love about lacrosse is that it’s one of the fastest growing sports across the board.”

Throughout the series, the two girls must learn how to confront their personal conflicts and come together in order to win.

Source: The Drum

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Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello.com