- Russell Westbrook returns as the face of BNZ's basketball investment campaign, created by Colenso BBDO and Hearts & Science
- The integrated campaign launched July 5, 2026 across TV, cinema, OOH, social, and digital channels
- This marks the latest chapter in a running partnership that began with BNZ's Kiwi Hoops program, which has now put over 90,000 kids on court
- BNZ's Basketball New Zealand partnership recently won Commercial Partnership of the Year at the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards
Russell Westbrook is back with a signature complaint. The nine-time NBA All-Star has teamed up with BNZ again, this time expressing mock frustration that the bank has doubled down on its basketball investment instead of backing off as he’d asked.
The campaign, developed by Colenso BBDO and Hearts & Science, went live Sunday, July 5 across TV, cinema, out-of-home, social, digital, owned, and internal channels. This time, the focus is coaching.
Westbrook’s endorsement enthusiastically supports BNZ’s coaching commitment, though it’s laced with sarcasm, playing off the running joke that started with the original campaign.
The storyline traces back to BNZ’s sponsorship of the Kiwi Hoops program, which originally had Westbrook asking the bank to stop, worried the kids would grow up to dunk on him.
Since then, more than 90,000 kids have come through the Kiwi Hoops program, and the partnership was recently named Commercial Partnership of the Year at the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards.
BNZ’s GM of Marketing & Design, Amy Phillips, noted that basketball’s popularity is growing fast, and the next challenge is building a coaching bench so kids have access to the sport, given many New Zealanders grew up playing rugby, netball, or cricket instead.
This is a familiar playbook for brands leaning on athlete star power to make a sponsorship land emotionally, a strategy also seen in Shaquille O’Neal’s recent Credit One Bank tie-up and Bobby Portis Jr.’s new push with Educators Credit Union.
Westbrook, now playing for the Sacramento Kings, remains one of basketball’s most bankable global faces even well into his NBA veteran years.
Takeaways
This isn’t a one-off ad buy; it’s a running narrative BNZ has built over multiple years, using Westbrook’s comedic “reluctant endorser” persona to keep the brand’s basketball investment story fresh instead of repeating the same sponsorship beats. That’s a smart way to stretch a single celebrity partnership into a multi-year content franchise.
Does a recurring joke format age better with audiences than a fresh campaign concept each year? How much does an athlete’s personality-driven humor (versus straightforward brand praise) affect trust in a sponsorship? Could this multi-year callback model become a template for other regional banks courting sports-mad audiences?
