| Detroit Free Press
Jalen Rose in Detroit Pistons’ ‘D-Up’ advertisement: Detroit is rising
Former Michigan basketball star Jalen Rose tells the world “Detroit is rising” in his narration of this “D-Up” advertisement from the Detroit Pistons.
Wednesday will be a big day for the Detroit Pistons, who will not only make the seventh overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, but also begin a new marketing campaign in anticipation of the 2020-21 season.
The Pistons will launch their “D-Up” campaign, which will celebrate the city of Detroit and highlight people within the city. The campaign includes the release two new secondary logos that are a trendier contrast to the Pistons’ primary logos and will be featured in their business and community operations. The campaign also launches a new merchandise partnership with Legends, which will operate a new online store for the organization, Pistons313shop.com.
To promote the new campaign, the Pistons released a video narrated by former Michigan forward Jalen Rose. The video featured cameos from several notable Detroiters, including Detroit Is the New Black founder Roslyn Karamoko, Woodward Throwbacks co-founder Kyle Dubay, rapper and TikToker Curtis Roach and rapper Sada Baby.
“Obviously there’s the basketball connotation of D-Up, which we’ll lean into for sure,” Pistons chief business officer Mike Zavodsky said. “But then also the continued rising of the city of Detroit. And I think the city has been rooted in innovation and growth. It was the birthplace of the auto industry, the music with Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder and Eminem and Big Sean today.
“And you’ll see some of the storytelling we do within that campaign spot with Jalen, whether it’s Curtis Roach on the music side or Roslyn of Detroit Is The New Black, the owner of that store, Kyle from Woodward Throwbacks. Really elevating and doing storytelling around the people in the city of Detroit that are helping this continued rise.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.