June 14, 2007

Is it fortuitous that LeBron James carried the Cleveland Cavaliers into the NBA finals the same year that MSN entered an alliance with him, creating what will become his exclusive homepage on the Web at LeBron.msn.com?

Perhaps. But when his MSN site is designed to allow the NBA's youngest-ever No. 1 draft choice to share his words of encouragement and spur others to reach goals through determination and hard work, you have to admit there is some incredible synergy at work. 

"I've always wanted to have a place where kids can see all aspects of my personality – where I can really talk with them about where I came from, what I do and how I achieve my goals," says James, at 22 now in his fourth year in the pros.

The site, designed like a storybook, allows users to flip through chapters and explore facets of his life, such as his dedication to learning, his hometown, community involvement and, of course, his basketball achievements. This year they include earning the most fan votes for the February All-Star game and exhibiting playoff heroics.

Still, his life hasn't been a perfect storybook. Born to Gloria James, a teen just months from graduating from high school in a low-income part of Akron, Ohio, the boy LeBron grew up to find inspiration in sports – and in his mom.

Introduced to LeBron through a mutual friend, Joanne Bradford, who is Microsoft's chief media officer, asked the NBA star about his mother – and was struck by his reply.

"He had the most incredible, incredible things to say about his mother and how she raised him," explained Erika Nardini, an MSN executive involved in the project. "That conversation spawned a broader relationship on how we could work with him and what we could do to bring his story to life on MSN."

Besides news, a reporter's blog and diary of LeBron's playoff push, fans' forum, video of slam dunks, a downloadable themepack of IM designs and icons, and a chance to ask him questions, the site includes LeBron's challenge to his fans. In it he asks, "What's your brick wall?" So far, dozens of users have revealed the obstacles they are working to overcome, like KevKev acknowledging that he's "not the King James of math” and Turk, who said, "I broke my shooting wrist in a football game. During basketball season I worked on my opposite hand."

When the site launched, "LeBron was blown away," Nardini said. "We shared with him some of the stories from the challenge," which is an area where users can become active and set goals, discussing their achievements on their Spaces pages. "He posted a response to a little girl 24 hours after it went live in February. He loves that it gives it a vision and a way to give back."

Last summer, the MSN Local site serving Akron created a Web presence for James' bikeathon; this summer, the LeBron.msn.com site will become home to James' Web presence, blending in his pro and foundation sites.

During the Cavaliers' playoff run, James earned more attention – and fans. Bradford is among them. "I watch the Cavs' games because I love the persistence he has shown in improving. His performance in Game 5 against Detroit will go down in history. He dug deep and overcame a huge obstacle – something we all have to do every day in our personal and professional lives."

Speaking of professional lives, James is due at the second annual King James Academy, a youth camp at the University of Akron June 20-24. Though his Cleveland squad got off to a slow start in the best-of-seven series, Game 7 would be on June 21. His fans, undoubtedly, would forgive him for missing a couple of days of camp if the Cavs can come back in the playoffs.

Regardless, Web users can come back to LeBron.MSN.com at least through August 2008 when James and other U.S. basketball stars play in the Olympic Games in China.

"My goal," says James, often compared to Michael Jordan, who did not win his first NBA title until age 28, "is to inspire people to achieve their goals and be part of something bigger than themselves."