Toronto Raptors player Chris Bosh made plenty of headlines for taking the initiative to film this video soliciting All-Star votes. Its become a YouTube sensation with over 420,000 hits. But my award for the best All-Star game campaign for a player has got to go to the Portland Trail Blazers for their push for guard Brandon Roy. They came up with something that is sheer genius and sure to win the hearts of the people the campaign is targeting. The team that brought you the Brandon Roy Rookie of the Year Leatherman Tool has now developed the iRoy.

The Trail Blazers sent 75 iPod Nanos to select media and to Western Conference coaches in hopes of generating support for Brandon Roy. Each iRoy is loaded with video (Roy All-Star video, Team Support Video and National Media Video) and digital photos of Roy as well as a catalogue of Roy-themed All-Star songs which include:

Smashmouth's "All-Star"/Prince "Baby I'm A Star"/Earth Wind and Fire "Shining Star"/Gamma Ray "Rising Star"

iPod Nano's are priced at anywhere from $149 (4GB) to $199 (8GB). So the cost of this campaign is running the Trail Blazers between $12K and $15K when you include shipping. Pretty good support from your team.

When Roy joined me on Sports Business Radio last year after winning the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, he discussed how much he appreciated the support of the organization when it came to promoting him as the league's Rookie of the Year with the creation of the Brandon Roy Leatherman Tool.

Fan voting for the NBA All-Star Game has ended so it will be up to the Western Conference Coaches to decide whether or not to add Roy to the roster. That decision will come on January 31st.

As I've written before, I think Roy isn't just an All-Star, but a legitimate MVP candidate.

Let's hope the Western Conference coaches do the right thing and give Roy (and the Trail Blazers for that matter) the credit that is deserved. There hasn't been a bigger surprise in the NBA this season that Nate McMillan's team, so the team is definitely deserving of at LEAST one All-Star spot.

And kudos again to Trail Blazers VP of Marketing Michele Daterman and the creative minds at the Trail Blazers who came up with this very creative idea.

UPDATE: Listen to my conversation with Trail Blazers COO Mike Golub about the iRoy campaign on Sports Business Radio.

UPDATE II: Brandon Roy is named to the Western Conference All-Star team. Mission accomplished for the Trail Blazers organization.