What it had to solve
Give the NBA's sustainability commitment a grassroots form in India and encourage more young players to take up basketball.
How it works
The pilot upcycled discarded fishing nets into court nets at the YMCA in Colaba, Mumbai, and community courts at EuroSchool, Thane and Vikhroli, with plans to expand to other markets. As an extension, Publicis created street-style posters recreating iconic NBA dunks through the lens of everyday life in India, displayed across the courts during filming, inviting young ballers to be India's next '23 in a billion', '8 in a billion' and '6 in a billion' — the jersey numbers of NBA superstars. A campaign video highlighted the ecological damage of discarded nets, combated one hoop at a time.
What it did
The poster extension won Gold for Photography and Silver as an Outdoor Campaign in Industry Craft at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2024; the pilot courts launched in Mumbai and Thane with expansion to other markets planned.
Background
Earlier in 2024, the NBA partnered with Publicis Groupe MEA (Dubai) in India on Nets for Change, an initiative to repurpose discarded underwater fishing nets — a significant environmental threat — as basketball nets on Indian courts, giving aspiring players higher-quality courts. The pilot launched at the Young Men's Christian Association in Colaba, Mumbai, and at community courts in EuroSchool, Thane and Vikhroli, with plans to expand to other markets.
As an extension, the Publicis team created a poster series to encourage more youth to play basketball. Featuring street-style photography, the posters recreated some of the most iconic dunks by NBA stars through the lens of everyday life in India, and were displayed across the courts during the filming of the campaign. They 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.
Submitted to Cannes Lions 2024 by Publicis Groupe Dubai, the dunk posters won Gold for Photography and Silver as an Outdoor Campaign in Industry Craft. Note this is a distinct campaign from NBA India's separate 'The Great Indian Dunk' work with Leo Burnett Dubai: Nets for Change centres on the upcycled fishing-net courts and the 'N in a billion' recruitment posters. The NBA said it is committed to using basketball's power to minimise environmental impacts and drive broader societal progress.
Why it lands
Fishing nets and basketball nets are the same object, so the sustainability fix required no metaphor — just relocation.
Indian basketball needed visible, playable courts more than advertising, so the campaign built the product first.
Posters recreating icon dunks in Indian everyday life made global NBA heroics feel locally attainable.
The 'N in a billion' line converted jersey numbers into an invitation addressed to a single Indian kid.
What you can take
Sustainability storytelling lands when the material is the medium: the net that trashed the ocean becomes the net the game flows through.
Since then
The pilot courts continued operating in Mumbai and Thane with expansion to other markets planned, and the campaign video kept circulating the message of combating ecological damage one hoop at a time; the poster work's Cannes Lions Gold and Silver were announced in July 2024.
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