American, Chilean, and Croat start cleanup at Dražen Petrović Arena in Zagreb
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
(Photo credit: Josip Novosel)
After the influencer and marketing expert Josip Novosel, also known as Dear Leader Joe, began promoting Zagreb-based Croatian basketball club Cibona on TikTok and other social networks, he enlisted the help of his friend, the American Justus Reid, who is currently one of the region’s most prominent influencers.
Together, they produced several creative videos featuring Reid’s team for Cibona, aiming to attract younger generations to basketball matches.
“The first video, in which we tested how many Cibona players could fit in a Yugo car, had almost 600,000 views on Instagram,” Novosel says.
American, Chilean and Croat start cleaning Dražen Petrović arena in Zagreb
“At that moment, we asked ourselves: Can we use social networks not only for entertainment, but also to motivate people to engage in socially beneficial activities for their club and for the city of Zagreb, thereby enhancing the experience of playing and watching matches for everyone? We agreed that we could initiate a graffiti cleaning campaign at the Dražen Petrović Basketball Center. We didn’t just want to criticize; we also wanted to lead by example, demonstrating that all societal changes begin with ourselves.”
(Photo credit: Josip Novosel)
The first cleaning video, which featured members of Justus’ Tiktok team – Zagreb influencer Josko Car and Chilean Camilo Soza – collected over 210 thousand views on TikTok in two days.
@cibona.official Reviving the Spirit: A Fresh Start for Our Dražen Petrović Arena! 💥 Today, we’re kicking off the clean-up of our beloved home stadium. It’s time to bring back the glory days and create new memories 💪🏻🐺🔷 Join us on this exciting journey as we spruce up our home court and get ready for an epic comeback! #HejaHejaCibosi #Košarka #Cibona #Basketball #Croatia #Hrvatska #NewBeginnings #revivethespirit ♬ original sound – KK CIBONA
“We received hundreds of comments from delighted Zagreb residents, as well as people from all over Croatia and the world. Everyone asked how they could get involved and how they could help us. We received praise and support from the city of Zagreb for our initiative. Considering that so many people want to join the cleaning action, we had a meeting with city representatives to discuss our proposals for further actions, which we will undertake,” Novosel concluded.
