Donovan Mitchell’s Adidas Campaign Takes Over Cleveland Public Library

It isn’t every day that Cleveland Public Library allows dribbling of basketballs between its shelves. For Donovan Mitchell, they made an exception.

On Saturday, Adidas Basketball dropped an advertisement as part of its campaign with Cleveland Cavaliers star and fan-favorite Donovan Mitchell. The backdrop for the advertisement promoting the D.O.N. Issue #8 shoes is not what you’d expect. It isn’t Rocket Arena, or any other basketball court for that matter. Instead, bleachers are replaced by bookshelves and onlookers' shushes take the place of applause, as Mitchell weaves through the elegant lobbies and aisles of Cleveland’s historic Main Library. 

“The production team called my cellphone,” says Andrianna Sheriff, CPL’s Marketing Communications Manager. “They said Donovan and the team loved the library, and they thought it was a beautiful backdrop.”

Beautiful may be the understatement of the year. With golden chandeliers, artistically moulded and painted high ceilings and Roman-esque cement columns, the historic integrity of the building shines bright behind Mitchell’s resonant performance. 

“Main Library is already one of Cleveland’s architectural gems,” says Sheriff. “Last year, we actually celebrated our 100th anniversary, so it was really meaningful to see that building featured in a campaign with one of Cleveland's biggest stars.”

The library itself, a star in its own right, was not the only authentic piece. The librarian shown sporting a bright red beret in the ad is actually one of its librarians, Annisha Jefferies. “It was fun to see her become the star,” Sheriff notes. “It's a true testament to the actual collaboration that took place to make it happen.” 

Sheriff shared that the process started in January and took months of planning and preparation after that. 

“It was a lot of back and forth, lots of phone calls about if this would even be possible. Main is our historic building, so there are so many collection items here that we have to protect,” she says. “It was a huge effort from the very start to execution.”

After months of conceptualizing, the product has made waves with Clevelanders, who are thrilled to see their hometown getting its moment in the spotlight. 

“The final product is absolutely beautiful. It was really surreal to see when they finally dropped the ad on Instagram,” Sheriff enthused. “The library is already a place for creativity and learning and community, so it just felt like a natural backdrop for a campaign about imagination and inspiration for the city.”

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