Remember the old basketball game HORSE? The one where you and a friend take turns trying to make baskets, and whoever doesn't make one gets a letter, and if you get enough letters and spell HORSE first, you lose? Or something like that?
Well, Foot Locker and BBDO New York recently invited people to play HORSE with Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden, aka an actual NBA player.
Before you (rightfully) say, "Wow, that sounds like a terrible idea. Obviously the regular human is going to suffer an embarrassing loss," understand that Foot Locker has a very loose definition of the word "play." In this case, the game of HORSE did not involve two people actually interacting on a basketball court. Instead, people were asked to share videos of themselves making crazy shots (presumably after at least 100 failed attempts) using the hashtag #HorseWithHarden, which Harden would then try to replicate.
The actual "games," recapped in the YouTube video above, aren't especially riveting. What is riveting is watching Harden interact with the nameless hype man in the video who was apparently hired by Foot Locker to make loud noises and be a general annoyance to everyone. You'll remember the sound of his grating, high-pitched shout-squeals long after you remember why you were watching James Harden play HORSE in the first place.
You know that FX series You're the Worst that everyone seems to really like even though the promos looked terrible? That show is probably about this guy.
CREDITS
Client: Foot Locker
Title: "Horse with Harden"
Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Chris Beresford-Hill
Executive Creative Director: Dan Lucey
ACD/Art Director: Jesse Snyder
ACD/Copywriter: Tim Wassler
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Associate Director of Digital Production: Joe Croson
Lead Producer: David Martinez
Shot Producer: Eric Bloom
Associate Producer: Courtney Fallow
Production Supervisor: Michael Gentile
Account Director: Janelle Van Wonderen
Account Manager: Nick Robbins
Assistant Account Executive: Samuel Henderson
Senior Digital Strategist: Rhys Hillman
Production Company: The Kitchen
Director: Lawrence Chen
Line Producer: Jonathan Hsu
Director of Photography: Tinx Chan
Live Broadcast Switcher: Marcus Taylor
Live Editor: Keith Vogelsong
Event Recap Video Editor: Nick Divers
Music: Apollo Studios