Atlanta Hawks turn to ‘Scotty ATL’ to add flash to schedule reveal

August 17th, 2022

A list of dates and NBA opponents on a screen may not elicit much excitement from basketball fans.

But in recent years, the Atlanta Hawks have tried creative ways to highlight key games for the upcoming season.

“Each year we want to try to highlight an aspect of our city in a big way to help release the schedule,” said Hawks executive vice president and chief marketing officer Melissa Proctor.

In years past, the team used emojis to illustrate the schedule, then it was a riff on the TV show “Atlanta” and now, grillz — the popular dental jewelry which has been notable in hip-hop culture dating back to the 1980s.

Rapper and entrepreneur Scotty ATL, as he’s known, has designed grillz for Killer Mike, Issa Rae and T.I., among others.

“I reached out and said ‘Hey, what do you think about partnering with us to create a grillz edition for our schedule release this year?’ and he was over-the-moon excited,” Proctor said.

Scotty ATL grew up around Decatur and Lithonia. That’s where he opened his shop, Grillz by Scotty, three years ago.

“This has been one of the biggest things I’ve been able to do in my career,” Scotty said of working with the Hawks.

The schedule release hype video features up close images of grillz created for different NBA teams, including marquee matchups — like the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.

“The first thought in my mind with creating the grillz, I wanted you to kinda be able to guess who the team was from seeing the grill,” said Scotty. “And then we started adding logos and different things to make it a little more definitive.”

Proctor says the idea for the promotion came when she received grillz as a birthday present. She says she’s the final product is eye-catching.

“We are looking at our audience and really targeting the next generation of Atlantans and how do we really get people excited for Hawks’ basketball?” she said.

Papa Johns, which recently opened a headquarters in Atlanta, also had a part in making the schedule release video.

The Hawks’ season begins Oct. 19 against the Houston Rockets at State Farm Arena. Tickets go on sale later in August. The Hawks, like the rest of the NBA, will be off on Election Day, Nov. 8. The league says it’s doing so to encourage fans to vote in key midterm elections.

The Hawks made national news in 2020 when they became the first NBA team to open its arena as a polling site to allow for greater physical distancing during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.