Taking the trend of hands-on athlete marketing to new heights, a mixed-media ad and strategy house has worked directly with Kobe Bryant to develop a multi-spot campaign for the launch of Bryant’s new signature Nike shoe, the Zoom Kobe III.Zambezi Ink, of Venice, CA created, directed and produced the five-spot Genius campaign. One spot per week is premiering exclusively at Bryant’s official site, http://www.kb24.com/, followed by a broader on and offline rollout.

In close collaboration with Bryant, Zambezi Ink’s Creative Directors Brian Ford and Ian Noe developed the Genius concept. Dressed as Leonardo Da Vinci, Amadeus Mozart, George Washington Carver and Albert Einstein, Bryant proves that these sneakers are genius, with some help from a precocious youngster.

“We wanted a way to talk directly about the shoe while showing Kobe as you have never seen him,” said Ford, creative director and co-founder. “So he embodies geniuses of the past to reflect the genius of the Zoom Kobe III. Plus, seeing Einstein and the rest of them totally ball out is funny to me.”

The Genius campaign isn’t the first collaboration between Bryant and Zambezi Ink. The agency created and maintains http://www.kb24.com/, which launched in October 2006. It averages 40,000 unique visits a day, and has received 10.8 million unique visitors since its launch. The site is a robust and intuitively-designed athlete site where visitors can see daily content updates, fresh video content, read Bryant’s blog, chat with each other, shop the store, sign up for Bryant’s camps, and more.

The Nike Zoom Kobe III is currently available for sale on http://www.kb24.com/. Two new color ways will be released late March and early May.

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month presented by Kia, respectively, for games played in February.James, who wins the award for the second consecutive month, led the league in scoring in February, averaging 30.2 points and adding 8.9 rebounds and an Eastern Conference-best 8.5 assists. Cleveland was 8-6 mark on the month as James became the first player since Magic Johnson (1988) to post triple-doubles on consecutive days twice in the same season (Feb. 19-20 and Nov. 24-25). James became the youngest player to reach 10,000 points with his 19th point at Boston on Feb. 27

Bryant led the Lakers to a 13-2 mark, averaging team highs in points (27.2 ppg), assists (5.9 apg) and steals (2.07 spg). Bryant, who shot .507 from the field, scored at least 30 points on eight occasions and netted more than 40 points twice.

Here is a closer look at the month for Kobe:

Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
Feb. 1 @ Toronto: Scored 46 points on 19-of-28 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and five assists in a 121-101 win.
Feb. 8 @ Orlando: Recorded 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a 117-113 win.
Feb. 20 @ Phoenix: In 46 minutes, netted 41 points on 16-of-25 shooting in a 130-124 win.
Feb. 26 vs. Portland: Tallied 30 points and nine assists in a 96-83 victory.

Check out this video of Kobe. It makes sense how learning Jeet Kune Do would help an NBA player. Anyone know Kobe practiced this?

Ok Kobe. We know you are intense but settle down. In last nights game our guy picked up two T’s and got tossed while up by 31 over the Sonics. Well, I guess if you are ever going to get tossed – do it in a blowout Keep it rollin Kobe!

You know Kobe wanted nothing more than to ruin Shaq’s coming out party in Phoenix on Wednesday night. And guess what, he did just that. The man poured in a game high 41 as the Lakers went on to beat the Suns 130-124.