You can imagine that in the country which gave the world two of the world’s greatest football players, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, it is quite difficult to stand out. Especially, when the sport that is supposed to make you rich and famous is not the country’s favourite. Yet basketball comes close, with especially one player taking the spotlight: Emanuel Ginóbili.

This might be because “Manu” Ginóbili has become one of only two players to have won a EuroLeague title, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal. The best Argentinian basketball player ever dedicated his spectacular career to one of the most successful NBA teams of the past two decades, San Antonio Spurs.

Before retiring at the end of the 2017-2018 season, Manu produced a series of stunning moments during his illustrious 16-year-long career, while wearing the number 20 on his jersey. And you can imagine that providing his shirt number 20 to just one team has helped him to become a loved and respected idol not just in his native Argentina. Despite not playing with his feet. Just watch some of his moves below to get an idea on how big of an impact Manu has had on the game over the years. And on Argentina. Fernando Tchechenistky, CCO at Y&R Argentina, told branding.news why: “Manu is one of the most important Argentinian sportspeople in history. We all love him.”

So, with some of his plays being described as ‘Michael-Jordan-ensque’, the four-time NBA champion decided to end his sporting endeavours, and San Antonio Spurs announced the retirement of the #20 jersey in his honour. That means that no other Spurs player will ever wear the emblematic number on his back. This is a pretty common treat for example for NHL teams.

However, Manu’s escapades—which include him using his crazy reflexes to smack down a bat mid-flight (and in game!)—have brought him another piece of admiration. This time, one of Argentina’s most important sports newspapers decided to honour one of their own in an unusual way. By retiring their page number 20, Olé joined the tribute for the South-American country’s best player.

The Argentinian national daily sports newspaper published in Buenos Aires, Olé, decided that within its October 17th edition—on the day of the first Spurs game with Manu Ginóbili not present on their roster since 2002—it would leave one of their pages blank to show respect and love to the country’s most popular sportspersons.  Fernando Tchechenistky explains that “Olé is the only national sports newspaper and it couldn´t let his retirement simply pass by. That’s why we thought leaving page #20 out would be the most significant thing we could do and we were proud to do so. The impact was amazing and we know that such repercussions were for him, apart from the idea itself. For us, it is a great joy and the opportunity to honor him from our ‘fan’ standpoint.”

In partnership with Young & Rubicam Argentina, Olé used their page 20 and instead of the usual sports information, it printed a heartfelt tribute to Ginóbili. The campaign also features an accompanying video (see above) that shows the printed tribute to Manu being lifted up in the rafters, where the legends live on…

Olé leaves Page 20 blank to honour Manu Ginobili | Click to enlarge

Credits:

Agency: Young & Rubicam Argentina

Advertiser: Olé – AGEA

Title: Page 20
CCO: Fernando Tchechenistky
Creative Directors: Juani Martínez Cima y Bruno Macri
Art Director: Juan Pedro Ferretti
Copywriter: Santiago Esposito
Interactive & Innovación Director: Agustín Porris
Executive Account Manager: Mariana Iesulauro
Account Director: Eugenia Hoursouripe
Account Executive: Alan Cruz Veracierto
Production chief: Luis Pompeo
Agency Producer: Juan Maidana y Santiago Ernesto
Production: Guillermo Paz
Voiceover: Marco Tiraboschi

Production company: Mamá Húngura
Director: MUMU
Executive production: Lisandro Ramos
Producer: Lisandro Ramos
Post-production & sound: Aldo Ferrari, Gonzalo Komel y Animation Machine

Music: Bigotes
Responsible for the client: María Eugenia Amadasi, Román Rebichini, Natalia González, Virginia Vaccarezza y Mauro Kogan