JP STRONG

“I saw a need, and I wanted to see if I could help in some way.”

THE NEED

As Kyle Goon once said, “Of all the basketball players who have signed a contract with the Utah Jazz over four decades, J.P. Gibson is the only one who ever used a purple crayon.”

Back in 2014 5 year old Jazz fan JP Gibson was fighting leukemia and signed a 1 day contract to the Utah Jazz and captured the hearts of the organization and the fans. And then a few years later sent out a tweet that made me want to do something to show support.

APPROACH

The same season that JP tweeted this, the NBA announced that teams can place patches on the jerseys for sponsorships or causes to raise awareness. I thought it would be a perfect way to show support and bring in donations for JP Gibson and let him know of the support around him. With not getting traction on the patch, the next best thing was the shirt design. Since JP was a former Jazz player, it only made sense to incorporate the “J” note into the design and get approvals to sell the shirts and hand over the proceeds to the Gibson family.

PROCESS

“We love what youre doing, but lets make sure we do it the right way.”

After designing the shirt and creating shirt mockups, I realized I needed to get approvals form the Utah Jazz. And talk about a struggle trying to get in touch with someone to discuss that. After many failed attempts and dozens of emails with no response, I decide to take a leap and published the shirts to start selling, because I knew they would see that. And within 30 minutes, the shirt was taken down and I was finally contacted by the Utah Jazz front office to make this concept a reality.

The Utah Jazz then sent me over a contract to sign over the rights to the JP Strong logo and we were in conversations of what type of promotion would be done for JP Gibson.

RESULTS

“We are JP STRONG at the @jazzteamstore”

ONLINE T-SHIRT CAMPAIGN

The Utah Jazz did a 1 time print of 5oo shirts to launch the #JPStrong campaign and the shirts sold out within minutes. It was then that this cause really started to take off and gain traction. After myself and Josh Gibson discussed with the Jazz, it was then decided to dedicate a game to JP Gibson and those others that are fighting this horrible disease.

ITEM OF THE GAME

The Utah Jazz dedicated a pre-season game to JP Gibson and others fighting a horrible disease of Cancer. When I walked into the stadium I lost all emotions. To see Jazz staff, workers, the team store, and fans wearing the #JPStrong shirt was just overwhelming. And this was the first time I would meet JP and the Gibson family, and truly a day I was inspired.

JOSH GIBSON—JP Gibsons Father

“You saw a need to help someone you didnt know, and you just did it without asking questions. That truly is what it means to show empathy.”