{"id":780736,"date":"2026-07-05T14:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T14:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780736\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T14:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T14:27:10","slug":"bnz-wont-stop-investing-in-basketball-and-nba-legend-russell-westbrook-has-had-enough-in-new-work-via-colenso-bbdo-and-hearts-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780736\/","title":{"rendered":"BNZ won\u2019t stop investing in basketball, and NBA legend Russell Westbrook has had enough in new work via Colenso BBDO and Hearts &#038; Science"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t    July 6 2026, 12:01 am | BY Ricki Green | <a href=\"#comments\">No Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \tBasketball is New Zealand\u2019s fastest-growing sport \u2013 but that growth has come faster than there are coaches to match it. BNZ together with Colenso BBDO, is tackling the shortfall head-on, with a commitment to reach 20,000 community coaches, so every kid who wants to play can.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the latest chapter in a partnership with Basketball New Zealand that began with BNZ\u2019s sponsorship of the BNZ Kiwi Hoops programme \u2013 which resulted in an unimpressed Russell Westbrook asking BNZ to stop, fearing those kids would grow up to dunk on him. Since then, more than 90,000 kids have been on court through BNZ Kiwi Hoops, and the partnership with Basketball New Zealand was recently awarded Commercial Partnership of the Year at the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards.<\/p>\n<p>Says Amy Phillips, GM Marketing &amp; Design, BNZ: \u201cBasketball\u2019s popularity continues to grow at a rapid pace, and the next challenge is building the coaching bench so that our tamariki have access to the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a generational barrier at play, a lot of us grew up playing rugby, netball or cricket, and there\u2019s a perception that you need to have played basketball in order to coach it. With the tools and resources we\u2019re making available alongside Basketball New Zealand, you don\u2019t need to be a baller to be a great coach\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a campaign that reflects BNZ\u2019s commitment, NBA legend Russell Westbrook still isn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \t\t<\/p>\n<p>Having already told BNZ to stay in its lane once, Westbrook returns to find the bank hasn\u2019t listened \u2013 it\u2019s invested further. In the new campaign, Westbrook appears to enthusiastically support BNZ\u2019s coaching commitment, but the endorsement is laced with sarcasm.<\/p>\n<p>Says Hadleigh Sinclair, Group Creative Director, Colenso BBDO: \u201cRussell knows better than most what New Zealanders are capable of when they throw their full weight behind basketball. So, when BNZ decided to invest even more in the game by helping more New Zealanders realise they\u2019ve got what it takes to coach, it felt only right to check back in and see what he thought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The integrated campaign went live Sunday 5 July across TV, cinema, OOH, social, digital, owned and internal channels.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t    \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/OOH_Sorry-Russell.jpg\" alt=\"BNZ won\u2019t stop investing in basketball, and NBA legend Russell Westbrook has had enough in new work via Colenso BBDO and Hearts &amp; Science\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Client: BNZ<br \/>Creative Agency: Colenso BBDO<br \/>Media Agency: Hearts &amp; Science<br \/>Production Company:\u00a0Good Oil<br \/>Director: Adam Gunser<br \/>Executive Producer: Andrew McLean<br \/>Managing Director: George Mackenzie<br \/>Offline Editor:\u00a0Julian Currin<br \/>Grade: Matic Prusnik<br \/>Online: Stu Bedford<br \/>Sound: Franklin Rd \u2013 Shane\u00a0Taipari<br \/>Photographer: Sacha Stejko @ Loupe Agency<br \/>Photographer: Peter Yang @ DS Reps<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 6 2026, 12:01 am | BY Ricki Green | No Comments Basketball is New Zealand\u2019s fastest-growing sport&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-780736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}