The number of NBA stars utilizing the likes of YouTube and other social media networks is constantly on the rise. This summer, more than a few perennial All-Stars stepped in front of the camera for reasons beyond basketball. With the NBA regular season well into its first month, The Elevator Pitch decided to let you in on how the likes of Steve Nash, Baron Davis and Chris Bosh spent their time away from the court.
Nash - a two-time NBA MVP, leader of the Phoenix Suns, pride of Victoria, British Columbia and now . . . Vitamin Water Poster Boy? According the following three clips, Kid Canada spent this summer grooming himself, signing Shaq’s shoes and sliding through grocery stores.
Steve Nash at the Vitamin Water photo shoot.
Nash visits Vitamin Water HQ.
Nash shares his off-season training regimen.
Davis, the newest face of the LA Clippers, was actually a film major during his brief tenure at UCLA so stepping behind and in front of the camera is nothing new. Baron’s summer saw him move from California to, well, a different part of California in hopes of bringing a new kind of love to Clipperland.
Baron Davis goes to dinner.
Bosh, the most talented basketball player not residing in the U.S., apparently trained for his gold-medal Olympic performance by using martial arts.
Chris Bosh shows off his Iron Claw.
By bringing their own personalities to the forefront, NBA stars like Nash, BD and CB4 are humanizing themselves, rather than promoting the lavish lifestyle associated with being a pro jock. From a marketing perspective, these tactics work brilliantly in not only promoting a product, but promoting a person. Not everyone can be a multi-talented cross-genre media monster (think Shaq - more specifically think Kazaam the Rapping Genie). So using them as Vitamin Water did, as humble, Everyman characters, is effective in creating a connection with the audience. Nice work, guys - now it’s back to business on the court.
A little while back, I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a dinner featuring guest of honor 
Arguably, no industry has been hit harder than the newspaper biz by the Internet revolution. The shift in how humans receive information has brought inky giants to their knees. For nearly two centuries newspapers held a monopoly on information but it disappeared in one decade thanks largely to Google and the reluctance by the leaders of big media to accept change.
In 1444, when Johann Gutenberg mastered his printing press, the world of business and literacy was transformed. Books made of paper and not expensive parchment became accessible to the masses. The dissemination of advertising content was made cheaper, allowing for farther reach by more members of the business class. Announcements and declarations, such as Martin Luther’s 99 Theses, became possible. The possibilities of publishing opened to people beyond just those in royalty or the clergy, spawning the first Information Age.