Mumbai: Earlier this year, the NBA partnered with the Publicis Groupe, MEA (Dubai), in India to bring to life “Nets for Change”, an initiative to repurpose discarded underwater fishing nets at basketball courts in India.  Discarded underwater fishing nets pose a significant environmental threat, and through this initiative, the NBA and Publicis are giving these nets a new purpose, so that aspiring players have higher-quality courts where they can come together to play the game.  The pilot project was launched successfully in Mumbai at The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Colaba and in community courts in EuroSchool, Thane and Vikhroli, with plans to expand to other markets.

As an extension of this campaign, the Publicis team created a series of posters to encourage more youth to play basketball.  Featuring street-style photography, these posters recreated some of the most iconic dunks by NBA stars, capturing them through the lens of everyday life in India.  Displayed across courts during the filming of the campaign, the posters invited young ballers to be India’s next '23 in a billion’, '8 in a billion’, and '6 in a billion’, referencing the iconic jersey numbers of NBA superstars.  The posters featuring these iconic dunks were submitted to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity by Publicis Groupe Dubai, winning Gold for Photography and Silver as an Outdoor Campaign in Industry Craft.

The NBA is committed to using the power of basketball to inspire fans and partners to minimize environmental impacts and help drive broader industry and societal progress.  The “Nets for Change” campaign video highlights the extent of the ecological damage caused by discarded fishing nets and how this initiative is helping combat it, one hoop at a time.