Anthony Edwards was a late scratch from last weekend’s NBA All-Star Championship tournament, but basketball fans have been able to see the Minnesota Timberwolves star on their TVs recently — and not just in games. The 23-year-old talent appeared alongside Hall of Famer and Timberwolves legend Kevin Garnett in a Sprite spot focused on a true-to-life conversation between the two stars in which the brand isn’t mentioned and barely appears.

“Lock In” is built on a long shot of Edwards and Garnett in a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon as the pair discuss the reality of life in the league — the game tape, the money, the practice, the club and beyond. While Sprite isn’t seen in the ad, apart from an unremarked bottle in the cup holder, the brand and its wordmark-less logo ties back to Garnett’s advice: “Keep that same spark and you'll be a’ight.”

The decision to not focus on the brand was part of Sprite’s quest to make advertising that feels more like a film or social content rather than a commercial, explained A.P. Chaney, senior creative director at Sprite.

“If we want to make a mark on culture, if we want these things to be shared and to resonate with our consumers in a real way, it has to be authentic,” Chaney said. 

“Lock In” is the centerpiece of a social-first series of ad content that features Edwards, who first teamed with Sprite in 2022 for its “New Bottle, Same Sprite” campaign before working with the brand on a refresh of its iconic 1994 “Obey Your Thirst” creative and a seasonal remix of “The Night Before Christmas.”

Since first linking with Sprite, the three-time All-Star has seen his public profile rise due to his appearances in the Olympics, on a Netflix docu-series and in an Adam Sandler movie (another thing he has in common with Garnett). He also has a habit of going viral for his brash personality — a characteristic that drove creative for a campaign by another brand that he reps, Adidas.

“I rarely get jealous of work,” Chaney said of Adidas’ “Believe That” campaign. “As a basketball fan, as an AE partner and an AE fan, I was so jealous of the work, and I was like, ‘Who is the agency behind this? They understand Ant. I need them on the line.’”

That agency was Johannes Leonardo, which was tapped by Sprite to create a whole world around what Edwards faces on and off the court, and how he shows up for the brand, especially on social, where the effort included a couple of teasers and a post ahead of All-Star weekend. The agency’s scripts featured an “OG” character, and considering Edwards’ team (and Chaney’s Minnesota roots), the team knew the OG had to be KG. On set, the scripts were treated as road maps, not exact blueprints, explained Noah Bramme, associate creative director at Johannes Leonardo.

“Anthony Edwards and Kevin Garnett are like the funniest people in the world, so us trying to write something better than they would freestyle up on set would be impossible, so we really gave them a lot of creative freedom,” said Bramme. “Props to them for bringing this to life and having so much fun with it on set, too.” 

The fun was limited by rainstorms during the shoot, forcing the crew to pivot from using a convertible to an SUV. But the pair of ballers were undeterred: The conversational tone captured in the spots doesn’t feel like ad copy, and it includes plenty of slang and a few four-letter words.  

“I give JL a lot of credit for pushing us out of our comfort zone and making sure that these guys really stay authentic to themselves, the creative and the concept that they created,” Chaney explained.