Portland Trail Blazer’s star point guard Damian Lillard may be sidelined by injury, but fans still feel his presence in Cleveland through XR.
Although recovering from abdominal surgery and missing his first NBA All-Star Weekend in five years, Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard will still have a presence in Cleveland through a unique XR experience with watch brand Tissot.
The official timekeeper and watch of the league tipped off All-Star Weekend on Friday with an immersive brand footprint starring their newest ambassador: Six-time All-Star Lillard, whose wrist-tapping celebration after clutch plays throughout his career has cemented “Dame Time” into the global basketball vernacular.
Hosted at the NBA Crossover exhibit inside Cleveland Public Auditorium, Tissot’s 180-degree booth allows fans to virtually enter Lillard’s world. The goal is to help him pick out the right watch.
“This experience brings fans into my world like never before and shows how Tissot watches are the perfect complement to my style in every occasion,” Lillard said, as first told to Boardroom.
Within the Tissot XR experience, fans take part in a shootaround at Lillard’s luxurious home, followed by a visit to the Tissot Vault to select one of his favorite timepieces. Depending on the watch selected, Lillard’s voice leads participants to one of six different choose-your-own-adventure-type environments. Each environment reflects his personality and passions on and off the court: an outdoor gym, a high-end closet, a recording studio, and a beach house.
After exploring the environment, and once Lillard explains his watch choice, fans exit the experience through Tissot’s retail space and can physically see the watch they virtually chose first-hand. On Friday, 500 fans took part in Tissot’s Lillard activation, with more expected throughout the weekend.
Tissot plans to take this Lillard XR experience on the road. Stops will include Portland, Lillard’s hometown of Oakland, as well as Dallas, which is a key market for the brand.
“Damian has a strong personality, and ‘Dame Time’ is fantastic for us,” Tissot CEO Sylvain Dolla told Boardroom. “His personality, nickname and celebration are perfect fits for our brand. He is a special character, a strong character, and exactly what we look for in partnerships.”
After almost a decade of iconic crunch time moments for Lillard — and fans wondering when “Dame Time” would earn a watch sponsorship — Lillard partnered with Tissot in April 2021. Come October, Tissot and the NBA announced “a multiyear extension of their marketing partnership” that began in 2015.
As part of the renewal, Tissot will innovate their timekeeping solutions in an effort to enhance the NBA experience for basketball fans worldwide.
“The NBA is a priority partnership for the brand and No. 1 in terms of investment,” added Dolla. “We will continue to provide support through new technology and timing systems and invest in a 360-degree marketing approach across all channels.”
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