NBA Christmas Gift Box

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

The NBA Christmas Gift Box campaign reimagined how the league builds excitement for Christmas Day by transforming holiday promotion into a multi-week, creator-led experience. Through surprise-and-delight moments and fan participation, the campaign built momentum and anticipation leading into NBA Christmas Day.

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

Instead of relying on traditional tune-in promotion, the campaign created real moments with fans - led by the Tuvok12 activation - which captured genuine reactions and turned them into content people wanted to watch and share.

The campaign sets a new standard by showing how one idea can connect everything - creator content, team storytelling, and broadcast - that naturally aligns with the storytelling of each participant. The Gift Box became a recognizable thread that tied all of it together while still allowing each platform to feel true to how fans use it.

This work moves the industry forward by proving that engagement comes from participation and consistency, not just scale - turning a single day of games into something fans could follow and be part of over time.

Objective

The 2025 NBA Christmas campaign was built to rethink how the league builds anticipation for its Christmas Day games through social media, with a focus on celebrating the game alongside fans. At the center of the campaign was the NBA Christmas Gift Box - created as a simple, recognizable symbol that could deliver surprise moments and connect with fans in a more personal way.

The goal was to make the Gift Box a consistent presence throughout the holiday season and closely tie it to NBA Christmas, while also helping fans learn more about the teams playing on Christmas Day. By showing up across social, team content, creator channels, and media platforms, the campaign created attention-grabbing content, while highlighting matchups, players, and storylines in a way that was authentic and naturally integrated within social feeds. Creators and team communities were brought in to make that content more relatable and engaging for fans of each team.

Ultimately, the goal was to build steady interest leading into Christmas Day and drive viewership of the games.

Strategy & Execution

The NBA brought the joy of Christmas to fans by partnering with Tuvok12 to create a surprise-and-delight challenge, featuring interactive shooting contests on a Christmas-themed hoop. Supported by a “hype crew” of 10 Santas representing Christmas Day teams, the activation delivered joyful and emotional moments showcasing fans making a basket and winning a prize. This content rolled out across both Tuvok12 and NBA channels to maximize reach.

Supporting this hero activation, the NBA Christmas Gift Box appeared across the NBA ecosystem in complementary ways: creators guessing what’s inside the box, celebrities making predictions, and teams producing localized content through gifting moments and fan interactions. Additionally, podcast and broadcast unboxings extended the narrative into long-form and earned media. This led to social content from The Sports Gossip Show, Numbers on the Board, The Dan Patrick Show, The Athletic NBA Daily, and NBA Today.

This layered approach ensured the campaign met fans where they are - prioritizing creator-led content as the entry point, while reinforcing the NBA Christmas narrative across all touchpoints. 

Organizations

• NBA

Featured

• Tuvok12

Credits

Bob Carney
SVP, Social and Digital Content
NBA

Adam Fedorko
VP, Social and Digital Content Creation
NBA

Ashley Atwell
VP Social and Emerging Media
NBA

Jake Freeman
Director, Social Content Planning Lead
NBA

Pat Mulrenin
AVP, Digital Content Publishing Lead
NBA

Kevin Scheitrum
VP, NBA App Content
NBA

Gerard Nocera
Senior Production Assistant
NBA

Carly Nevis
Senior Manager, DTC and Vertical Content Creation
NBA

Amanda Thorn George
SVP, Global Partnerships, Social Impact and International Communications
NBA

Mark Pozin
AVP, National Media Partnerships and International Communications Lead
NBA