Photo source: Amazon
The company Mercedes-Benz has launched a new campaign in collaboration with Amazon Ads, using NBA on Prime Video game broadcasts as a platform for a series of short creative pieces that combine sport, entertainment and luxury brand storytelling. The campaign aired during January and February within NBA game broadcasts on the Prime Video platform, where Mercedes-Benz appears as the presenting sponsor.
At the centre of the campaign is a series of four short videos featuring legendary NBA player Dirk Nowitzki, now an analyst on the show NBA on Prime Video. The narrative begins with a humorous situation in which Nowitzki mysteriously fails to appear in the studio before the broadcast begins. In each of the spots, it is revealed where he actually is – in a parking garage, where he enjoys different features of the Mercedes-Benz GLS model, from ambient lighting and massage seats to the sound system and vehicle design.
According to Melody Lee, Chief Marketing Officer of Mercedes-Benz USA, the strategy behind the campaign is based on changes that have taken place in the luxury market in recent years. “The luxury market in the United States has changed dramatically. The audience is rapidly diversifying, luxury buyers are becoming younger, and the traditional spaces where consumers once encountered brands are shrinking,” said Lee, adding that Prime Video represents an environment that allows brands to expand their audience while maintaining brand identity.
The creative concept of the campaign was developed in collaboration with the agency Merkley+Partners, while media planning was handled by PHD. The idea was to integrate the functional advantages of the vehicle naturally into the story, rather than presenting them as a classic advertising interruption during the broadcast.
“Buying a luxury product, especially a car, is largely an emotional experience. That is why we want our content to connect viewers with that feeling, while product benefits appear as part of the story itself,” explained Lee.
The partnership also demonstrates how Amazon continues to expand its advertising offering in the field of live sports. According to Amy McDevitt, Head of Sports Brand Partnerships at Amazon Ads, live sports broadcasts enable brands to achieve strong reach at the top of the marketing funnel, while Amazon’s advertising infrastructure allows communication with audiences to continue even after the broadcast.
Amazon also emphasises that sports integrations have a strong impact on brand perception. Data from the research company Latitude Research shows that during the 2024–2025 season, as many as 80 percent of viewers of Thursday Night Football broadcasts on Prime Video had a more favourable opinion of brands that were integrated into the broadcast, while such integrations were twice as effective at increasing brand consideration compared to traditional linear NFL sponsorships.
The collaboration between Mercedes-Benz and Amazon does not end with the Nowitzki spots. During NBA broadcasts in Amazon’s studio in Culver City, additional brand integrations were promoted in the film GOAT, produced by Sony Pictures, while a special studio takeover featuring new video content has also been announced for March.
The campaign thus demonstrates how premium brands are increasingly turning to live sports as a space of high audience attention, where creative content can function as part of the viewing experience itself rather than as a traditional advertising break.
