Meta Quest Brings the NBA to ‘Fans at the Edge of the Earth’

Billy Corben ('Cocaine Cowboys', 'Dawg Fight', 'From Russia with Lev') directs this engaging three-minute spot for Meta Quest and the National Basketball Association. The ad focuses on the young residents of Utqiagvik/Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States and more or less the last chance to play basketball before you hit the Arctic Ocean.

The city experiences more than two months of twenty-four-hour darkness each winter, so light relief is vital for the teenage cast. It's why they play basketball as much as possible, with one eye on a career in the NBA/WNBA and the other on the lookout for polar bears. The cast are under no illusions, though—not many scouts or coaches make it up to Utqiagvik/Barrow.

To top it off, none of them have ever watched an NBA game in the flesh. Born over seven hundred miles away in Anchorage, Alissa Pili of the Minnesota Lynx understands how isolated they feel… and that's why she sends a consignment of Meta Quest 3 headsets up north.

The teens are beside themselves now they have 'courtside seats' to every game, and Billy makes the reactions look pure as the driven snow. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg may drop the ball on a regular basis, but this spot keeps hold of it well.