Fans cheer successful avoidance of the luxury tax (via www.nba.com)
The Bulls have had some strange ad campaigns in their recent past. There was 'Larger than Life', which included a big-ass Jay Williams billboard along the expressway. The campaign with Norm Van Lier "talkin 'bout my Bulls" in the barbershop. The "everything can change in the blink of an eye" commercial that was getting us ready for that return to franchise greatness from the Chandler/Curry/Crawford
But look at these 8 versions of Bulls tickets commercials that have been popping up on the air lately. First of all, they're pretty lame. The theme is the different types (of awesome!) fan experiences at the game, yet I don't see mine: "young man with his Dad getting pissed off at Chris Duhon's minutes allocation".
But while all parts of the UC experience are regaled, apparently the team itself is a very small fraction of the 'it' in "love it live".
Not a single player is mentioned. Nobody's even explicitly shown, the highlights are all washed out and quickly-cut, that you can barely tell who it is (best I can tell: Noc whooping it up, Noah dunking, a Noah/Tyrus celebration, and Chris Duhon -not kidding- going after a loose ball).That's it when it comes to the guys on the court.
The Bulls' marketing arm could be feeling that mentioning the team responsible for such an abysmal '07-'08 season would actually hurt sales. Or that they didn't want to commit to a player who may not be on the team next season.
But, hell, there's a new optimistic coach with a great head of hair, and the freaking #1 overall pick, who happens to already be a local basketball legend.
Or if you're the cynical type, take it this way: it doesn't really matter who's on the team, as long as there is a team, and it's at a reasonable payroll. The Bulls themselves are just another act in the game experience, and it's not like anybody cares if the luvabulls or matadors change their rosters either.
Now, if I really felt that way I wouldn't have gotten the 11-game package myself. Then again, that purchase occurred in the post-lottery ecstasy...if I knew that not even the team itself cares that it has Derrick Rose, I likely wouldn't have gotten caught up in believing it would be a step forward for the franchise, instead of the apparent cap-curse the team has spun it to be.
On the bright side, at least if I'm in attendance I don't have to watch the commercials at home.