• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

When Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2024-2025 season, there’s one person who wasn’t surprised at all: his mother.

In the wake of the news, AT&T shared a video across the brand’s social media channels, featuring a voicemail left by his mother, Charmaine, over highlights from his career. “Finally! You got it!” Charmaine says at the beginning of the heartfelt message, adding it was another thing to check off his list on his way to becoming GOAT.

AT&T’s video ends with the message “MVP wasn’t guaranteed. But she called it.”

The rapid-response social content leveraged AT&T’s preexisting relationship with Gilgeous-Alexander, allowing the brand to tap into a cultural moment with NBA fans and demonstrating how brands can leverage such partnerships outside of typical campaigns.  Gilgeous-Alexander has appeared in previous campaigns for AT&T including last December’s “NBA Dreams.”

“At AT&T, we believe in the athletes we work with and recognize that success is rooted in connection. Teaming up with Shai’s mom, Charmaine, to share her voicemail tribute after Shai was announced as MVP was a powerful way to spotlight his incredible achievement and the community and support system that made it possible,” Sabina Ahmed, assistant vice president, sponsorships and experiential at AT&T, told Marketing Daily. “Voicemails are one of the most personal ways to share a message with someone and their ability to become lasting keepsakes makes them even more meaningful.”

The message has only gained relevance since the Thunder won the series and advanced to the NBA Finals, which tips off this Friday, June 5. According to AT&T, the post has been “one of our most engaged videos on Instagram, TikTok, and X this year,” including receiving over 13,000 likes on Instagram.