Steve Nash was born in 1974 in South Africa and at a very young age moved to Canada making a few stops in Canada before settling in Victoria British Columbia. Steve grew up playing Hockey and soccer but didn’t start to play basketball till he was 12 or 13. In eighth grade he made a vow to his mom he would be a star in the NBA. He went to public school for high school but his grades were lacking so his mom transferred him into private school and he went on to win a high school championship and won Player of the Year. Nash got a scholarship to go to Santa Clara where he played four years. He won Conference Player of the Year twice, winning his conference a few times and making it to the tournament. He also was an All American his senior year. Holding many records and being one of the all time greats of the school his jersey was retired.
He was drafted by the Suns in 1996 draft 15th overall. Fans didn’t know of him and was trapped on the bench. Because of the high number of point guards on the team he never got a chance to play which eventually lead to his trade to the Dallas Mavericks after two seasons. His presence was felt right away improving the team and players around including his friend Dirk Nowitzki.
This was also about the time that Mark Cuban became owner of the team. The next season they made the playoffs and he was an All Star and was on the All-NBA third team. He made the playoffs the next 3 seasons. His contract came up after the ‘03-‘04 season, but the Mavs didn’t offer as much as he wanted, so he signed to reunite with the Suns for six-years $63 million.
In his first two years back with the Suns he won back to back MVPs and made the conference finals twice. He is now considered one of the best point guards ever in NBA history. He is an 8 time All Star, 7 time All NBA, 2 time skills contest winner, and has the record for season leaders in assist and free throw percentage. He has won Canadian Athlete of the Year and the Canadian Male Athlete of the Year 3 times. Along with a being a star NBA player he does a lot with charities which led him to win the NBA award for Outstanding Citizenship and Community Service.
He is also one of the few people to be a part of the 50-40-90 club and to do it multiple times. Nash has a medical condition called spondylolisthesis, which causes muscle tightness and back pain. Due to the condition, when he is not in the game he lies on his back rather than sitting on the bench to keep his muscles from stiffening.
He has a Steve Nash foundation, the foundation aims to foster health in kids by funding projects that provide services to children affected by poverty, illness, abuse, or neglect, and create opportunity for education, play, and empowerment. There are ones in British Columbia and Phoenix. He also founded the Jim Jennings Memorial Endowment Fund in honor of volunteer staff member at Santa Clara University who served the basketball team for more than 20 years. Nash also sponsors the Steve Nash Youth Basketball League in British Columbia and also has been involved with GuluWalk. He also received Canada’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. His agent is Bill Duffy. His sponsorships and endorsements started to come in after his first MVP.
Steve has an event called “Showdown Chinatown” in NYC, a charity soccer game. Fans get very close to the pitch watching NBA players and soccer players around the world. The Showdown is a supreme opportunity for sponsors, athletes, and attendees to witness the beautiful game of soccer. They make it so the sponsor can reach their activation goals by: On site logo exposure on banner and media backdrop, logo and brand integration on stevenash.org, the official Showdown website, integrated event portal through the Showdown website to yours, media mentions, including all press releases and in-game PA advertisement, contesting and promotional platform, on-site fan interaction and sampling opportunities, with station creation, VIP on-field access to Showdown, VIP access to NYC Showdown-related event, exclusive player access and brand integration opportunities, brand activation leading up to the Showdown, on-site, and in Showdown’s extensive media coverage: Showdown 2011 public relations garnered more than 773 million media impressions exclusive of Steve’s Facebook and twitter (@stevenash) following.
He has a sponsorship with liquid nutrition, which is a Canada-based smoothie, food, vitamin and supplement store franchise. The company plans to incorporate all of the athletes in its national and corporate marketing, and also will emphasize certain athletes in local markets based on their popularity and the particular sports in those places. Other athletes include: Russell Martin catcher of the Yankees, Matt Ryan QB of the Falcons, golfer Suzann Petersen and Australian Gold Medal-winning snowboarder Torah Bright. It was reported by Slam online that Steve left Nike after 15 years to sign with Luyou a Chinese brand. He signed only with them because they are an exciting young company, and to design and brand his own shoes and apparel while doing great work for all kinds in underserved communities in China. But he still wears his Nike Zoom Go Low kicks. In the first commercial he shows us his favorite shot and then asks what’s yours?
Nash signed a deal with Indochino the Canadian-based online clothing company. He also has invested his own money into it and has designed six suits for it, along with a set of matching ties. It is called the “Steve Nash Collection” and the company activated the deal through a Facebook competition where you can win a trip for two to see a Suns game and with hotel accommodations, spending money, a pair of suits, and “a postgame handshake with Steve Nash”. It wouldn’t be surprising if Nash was already wearing suits from Indochino, as he has a relationship with the company’s chairman and principal investor, Jeff Mallett. Mallett also serves as an advisor to the Steve Nash Foundation, making it quite obvious who set this deal up between the company and Nash’s people.
He is teaming up with DeutschInc Chief Corporate Strategy Officer Michael Duda with a $20 million investment fun. The company, Consigliere, wants entrepreneurs “to consider marketing not as an afterthought, but as a strategic part of the growth process.” It will focus on “investing in budding firms in only a few sectors, such as e-commerce, sports and durables.” Nash did have an unpaid internship with them for 3 months before he made this decision.
The goal is to be a better entrepreneur and have something for Steve do after his career. Steve has also been on an ad for Got Milk usually at the back end of a magazine. He has starred in many commercials for media outlets like: TNT, ESPN/ABC, CBS Sports, and for the NBA. In one commercial for where the amazing happens, they show a clip of him in the past and edit it together having someone says things to him about the future and he doesn’t hear or notice what’s been said to him. He’s trying to dunk in college and the guy is telling him you’re going to be a great point guard. Also David Blaine tries to say Steve Nash is using mirrors in his passes in another NBA commercial. In the ESPN commercial he’s parallel parking perfectly. In the TNT commercial he’s with Amare Stoudemire hearing that he is the best PG, and the other one is where he is being interviewed by Ali G.
CBS sports run ads of him in South Africa for the World Cup doing crazy things but also being a correspondent for the World Cup. He also is in one of the ABC playoffs commercials where he calls up Dr J and talks to him. Steve is one of the primary athletes in the ‘PSA Think Before You Speak’, dealing with don’t say things are gay when they are stupid. He is on the print ad and his fellow teammates are in the commercials. He also does a video supporting gay marriage in New York. He also does work as the spokesmen for makepoveryhistory.ca with his charity and his ads are all around Canada on subway commuters. It works towards: More and Better Aid, Trade Justice, Cancelling the Debt and Ending Child Poverty in Canada. Southwest has used Steve in an advertisement He also has appeared on a Wheaties box. Steve is the face of Clearly Canadian bottled water and only signed with them because they’re both from British Columbia and it is a company that understands its responsibility to give back to those less fortunate. The company is directly involved in building safe drinking water systems.
He is a spokesman for Dove-Men care and its slogan: “Be Comfortable in your own Skin.” Where he talks about his journey to comfort along with Shaq and Tom Izzo and the ad campaign will start for this March Madness. You can win tickets to the tournament for the final four where you play a game to beat Steve to get a chance to go. Steve is the ambassador of Raymond Weil watch brand and he only signed with them because Raymond Weil has agreed to give $60,000 to the Steve Nash Foundation for his help in their ad campaign. He will be in a TV ad alongside basketball commentator Ahmad Rashad.
Nash and MDG Computers have teamed up only for Steve Nash’s foundation and Steve will appear in TV, radio and print ads, while MDG will support Nash’s foundation and work with it to provide some Canadian schools with computer labs featuring MDG computers. As it was agreed they donated about $22,000 worth of computer equipment to Crystal Beach Public School. A mobile wireless lab of 12 MDG notebooks was installed at the school a few weeks ago, which will serve over 150 children from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 8. It was to help further the health, personal development, education and enjoyment of life of children in underserved areas.
Steve appears in the Experience British Columbia tourism called Hello BC.com commercial and print ads. He also appears with other famous people like Ryan Reynolds and Michael J. Fox for 2010 in Vancouver. He has done playoff commercials and ads to get him into the All Star game for his team. There is one called ‘Eye on the Prize’, where they market him to get people to buy tickets.
Steve has a deal with MISSION Product a skincare company along with Mia Hamm, Ryan Sheckler and Gretchen Bleiler. He appears in a commercial performing their sports with them. Steve is the spokesman for Court Grip, and does an ad playing soccer for them and has a whole page on the site just for him. The site is integrated with Twitter feeds from the company and their athlete spokesman.
Nash will team up with APS the state’s largest electric utility in its efforts to make Arizona the solar energy capital of the world. At a game vs. the Celtics, past posters were given out with Nash appearing on them saying “Suns Power” and a video was shown of Steve talking about the importance of renewable energy projects like Solana. On the site there is a whole page for him and he gives 13 Energy assists to you. APS has a series of commercials called “Bonk” where Steve throws a ball at some of the heads of the citizens of Arizona for some green sense. In the final one he says “don’t make me come to your house.” There is also a commercial where a women name Stephanie Nash (no relation) is thanking him for his work and her son walks in as the obsessed Nash fan.
Nash has a deal with BC Hydro Power Smart being captain of the power smart team spokesmen. Steve is an energy-waste-seeking detective turned out in a shaggy wig, droopy mustache, mirrored shades, short-sleeved white shirt, fashionable tie and functional toothpick in a series of commercials which leads you to watch more and download the app pocket waste buster. The app also shows battery life and gives an estimate on how long it will take to recharge the phone. It also has a warning when the phone is 80 per cent charged and fully charged and it reminds people to unplug their phone when it finishes charging. The videos were produced by Nash’s production company. Another commercial is a bobble head of Steve Nash shaking his head to answer questions. On the website Ibeatu.com, Nash has a profile where he has videos performing NBA tasks while asking people to beat him. Another gag on the site, a stepbrother is spinning off of him with Baron Davis as the stepbrother squaring off against each other.
Nash signed a deal with Bridgestone Tires where he joins other famous athletes like: Deion Sanders, Troy Aikman, Tim Duncan and sports reporters: Dick Vitale, Kenny Smith, Barry Melrose and Michelle Beadle. In the commercials they test Bridgestone’s newest products of limited-edition versions of their tire footballs, basketballs and pucks. In Nash’s version he is dribbles the ball around and does the sleeping baby test by bouncing the new basketball, and the ball doesn’t make the normal noise of dribbling. Steve stars in a commercial for Toyota and actually drives a Prius. In one of the commercials it takes us through his competiveness and shows how much practice time he puts into everything. Another one talks about him after games and how he is energy efficient and his impact on the environment. The third one shows how he leaves his mark on others and he’s a good guy. In all three he is narrating. The biggest reason he works with Toyota is the fact they promote going green and helping the environment. In an NBA commercial about Steve, it shows his journey with navigation directions from the Prius he drives.
Steve has a sponsorship with Vitamin Water the energy drink company as the face of all their marketing. He is a part of a viral video marketing campaign. In one of the commercials he is a Canadian celebrity talking about vitamins and water with an appearance by 50 cent. That leads into the Facebook page of vitamin water. He is known as “The Most Ridiculous Man in the World”. He acts like his own goofy self while also making fun of himself. The commercial sets up as the Dos-Equis commercial telling things about him and the ending is stay ‘vitnimazed my friend’, where there are 3 of him. There is another one as Elvis in workout clothes, and another in nice clothes. Other commercials are about his training and routine. Also there are ones where he is taking a tour of the facility. He also does one where he is talking about how great he is and another where he is a Spaceman being interviewed.
Vitamin water has a campaign asking ‘are you Nash enough?, where you make videos to prove you are and you upload them to the Canadian site for Vitamin water while people vote on the best ones to be chosen in a video with him. In the main commercial there is a Facebook plug to go to their page and make your own flavor.
Steve is a part of a campaign for EA sports and their Soccer game FIFA 12. He’s trying to be a part of the EA Sports Pro Player Challenge a competition that will determine which professional soccer player is the best at the new game. This is another viral video marketing campaign. He basically is trying to get in and he keeps bothering Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy. He keeps calling him and following him around trying to get into practice. In the commercials Steve is talking about how great he is and how he and Landon are buds while getting a message or being in a nice house. He also faces him in the game in a hot tub in a limo with soccer legend Hope Solo. Landon seems not worried by Nash in the commercials. He also appears in a Target in the third part and gives time for his charity event to have air time on his shirt.
Over the 15 years Nash was a part of Nike he has done many commercials and intuitive ideas. The commercials include: his training, breaking down his moves and “My better is better than your better”. He wrote the commercial for the training day one. He also has revolutionized Nike with the recyclable shoes called the ‘trash talk shoes’ the first performance athletic shoe made out of 100 percent recycled goods.
The body and sole of the shoes are made from leftover rubbers and materials from shoe factories. The shoe will degrade 50 times faster than normal shoes. Even the box is made from recycled cardboard. Although though this shoe is made from trash, it meets all of Nike’s quality standards. Nash and Nike hope this shoe will become the standard for all athletic shoes in the future. Steve and his independent films company made a commercial for Nike called “The Sixty Million Dollar Man” and it came out on Earth Day. It’s a spoof of the title sequence of the old TV show of the Six Million Dollar Man. It shows him taking hits from everyone eventually breaking apart and falling down and a countdown sequence also.
Amare Stoudemire and Raja Bell have cameos in it. They eventually sweep him away and have him lying on an operating machine and the narrator talks about Nash and say “we have the technology to fix him”. They then show images of the new shoes and the same idea about remaking shoes out of old materials saying he was better than before and he starts to train again. He is stronger and quicker it shows but it ends with a, ‘to be continued’. My favorite commercial from Nike with Steve Nash is “The Second Coming”. It’s NBA players are playing a pickup game of basketball but with a grand entrance. The other basketball players are: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Jermaine O’Neal, Paul Pierce, Shawn Marion, Rasheed Wallace, and Tony Parker. It was for the 25th anniversary of the Air Force showing their new shoe the Air Force 25.
In Canada, Steve also has his own Fitness World and Sports Club. Originally it was just in British Columbia but Fitness World teamed up with him to make it all across Canada. It is the first fitness facility in Canada designed by a world-class athlete, and that promotes a healthy lifestyle in a green, sustainable environment. In 2006 Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, citing his work both on and off the court. It works hand and hand with his Charity. There is a mobile app for it as well and it is the official Fitness Club of the Vancouver Canucks. Steve also had a cameo in “Like Mike”. Along the works of trying to be a filmmaker he created a show called “Nash VS”, where he would compete against the best athletes at their sport but Shaq stole the idea and to avoid any lawsuits he was made producer and co-creator of the show.