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Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers continues to shine in the spotlight. Whether it’s her on-court dominance culminating with her winning the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year Award, or finding herself sitting courtside at NBA games or the sidelines at NFL and college football games in Texas.
Her latest partnership is a unique one: CarMax. The car service needed a rebrand, and according to Marketing Brew’s interview with CMO Sarah Lane, it was a no-brainer to involve star athletes, particularly basketball players like Donovan Mitchell and Bueckers, in the campaign.
“Basketball just continues to be a place that’s important to culture,” Lane said. “It’s young, it’s modern, it’s where culture starts, and aligning the brand next to that helps us to look and feel more modern and connected to culture.”
Where Bueckers comes in is tied to the ever-growing popularity of the WNBA.
“The things that cause the virality are really, truly being a part of the basketball culture,” Lane said.
The new campaign, better known as “Wanna Drive?” fits the mold.
“As soon as we saw it, it just lit a little spark in us,” Lane said. “It’s an invitation. It’s playful. It’s got a play on words…and it has a lot of legs and utility to it that I think we’re excited to be able to evolve for years to come.”
Lane says adding the likes of Bueckers and Mitchell really adds the hope that CarMax will appeal to a casual audience to “carry that confidence and clarity that we want the customers to be feeling,” around the slogan itself.
The WNBA won’t be the only league involved
“Similar to the WNBA and the NBA, I think [the NWSL] is another opportunity to connect with a growing league and growing fanbase,” Lane said. “The fans appreciate the brands that show up there. They recognize our contributions to the growth of the thing that they love, and they’ve expressed their loyalty back to us.”
It remains to be seen how quickly the campaign will catch on. If it does, it may have a huge opportunity to become a hit amongst casual WNBA fans and fans of the Dallas Wings seeing the team’s biggest star across several television screens and mediums around the country.
With how much of a rebuild the Wings are currently going through, it’s clear that the push for Bueckers’ rise in popularity is evident.
READ MORE: Paige Bueckers praised by Cooper Flagg after support at recent Mavericks games
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