Disney Looks Into NBA Stars’ Minds to Promote ‘Inside Out 2’

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Spots featuring Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony to air during Eastern Conference Finals

Inside Out Spot with D Wade
(Image credit: Disney Ad Sales)

NBA legends Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony are helping to promote Inside Out 2, the new film from Disney and Pixar, in commercials that are appearing during the NBA’’s Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN and ABC.

The spots look into the minds of Wade, who owns three NBA championship rings, and Melo, who has none.

In the spots, Wade and Anthony meet some of their emotions, just like the emotions of Riley, the lead character in Inside Out, are brought to life in the films.

“This project defines the intersection of sports and entertainment. To get inside the minds of legendary NBA players within the beloved Inside Out world shows fans that even the biggest stars share our same big emotions, Carrie Brzezinski-Hsu, senior VP of ESPN Creative Studio, said.

The spots were created by Disney Advertising, Disney CreativeWorks, Disney Studios and ESPN Creative Studio.

Production of the spot required highly sophisticated special effects and paired Unreal Engine software with the hardware of The Volume stage to compute and display a 3D environment that could move and react to actors and camera movements in live-action environments.

Inside Out 2 will be in theaters on June 14.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.