Untapped Marketing Opportunity in the NBA
Posted: 2/25/2010 12:52:36 PM by
Jon Kander | with 0 comments
For the record, I am an NBA fan. But aside from my love of the game, it’s my opinion that the NBA has been ahead of its time, when compared to other professional leagues in America, in creating interest abroad, especially in China. The past few years have seen some of the greatest playoff series ever (Spurs-Suns 2007 and 2008, Celtics-Cavaliers 2009, Celtics-Bulls 2009, Pistons-Cavaliers 2007, Lakers-Celtics 2008) and the league’s stars have never been more likable and charismatic from a fan’s standpoint.
However, despite all of the league’s successes, more people appear to be interested in what is happening off the court rather than on it. No, I am not referring to Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton doing their best Burr-Hamilton impression. Instead, this blog entry will focus on the most recent trade deadline, the “Summer of 2010” and whether a company can take advantage of fans’ interest in both from a marketing standpoint.
This season, the biggest story isn’t whether Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will win back-to-back titles, whether LeBron James will get his first (of probably many) rings or Kevin Durant (one of the league’s rising stars) scoring 25 points or more in 29 (and counting) straight games. Instead, the biggest subplot of this season is where will LeBron James (or Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, etc.) play next season.
In general, this entire season appears to only be a precursor to the overarching “Summer of 2010” largely because, unlike other professional leagues, one superstar player can completely revamp an NBA franchise and change a team’s future. Looking back at the slew of deals that were done around the NBA trading deadline last week, the primary goal of most teams appeared to be clearing enough cap space to sign one of the many superstars that will become free agents following this season. The Chicago Bulls made themselves a genuinely better team for this season; however, the biggest reason why the trades they made last week were considered successful is because they cleared enough cap space for the Bulls to potentially sign a marquee free agent this summer. The trade deadline’s biggest winner? That might be the New York Knicks who cleared enough cap space to potentially sign two marquee free agents next summer.
Please don’t think that I find this to be a bad thing. It’s always fun to dream about the possibility of having LeBron James play for your team next season (or staying put if you are a Cavaliers fan). I have spent countless hours talking with friends and speculating what team’s uniform LeBron will be wearing next season. My question to you is why hasn’t any company taken advantage of this phenomenon and created a sponsorship/advertising campaign around the trade deadline and next summer’s free agent market? AT&T’s Olympic advertising campaign is titled “Imagine the Possibilities.” Well, isn’t that what every NBA fan has been doing all year?
Looking back, why couldn’t a current NBA sponsor have created an activation platform around the trade deadline or made a presenting sponsorship of the trade deadline one of its proprietary components? The company could sponsor a web chat or message board on nba.com or espn.com (in a separate sponsorship buy) that focuses on trade rumors, detailing all of the trades that were completed, prognosticating how each team will be impacted in the short and long term, etc. Southwest Airlines (a current NBA sponsor) could advertise its incredibly low rates to each city in the NBA and show highlights of marquee players from years past who were traded at or near their prime with subtitles detailing what team they were traded to and what they accomplished with their new team as its commercial campaign. (Yes, I am hearing the “NBA: Where Amazing Happens” commercials piano tune in the background right now.)
While this advice is too late for a company to create a sponsorship and promotional campaign around the 2010 NBA trade deadline, this is not the first NBA season where most fan discussion is focused off the court. Every year, teams and fans look to the trade deadline to see if their team can find that one missing piece to propel them to a championship. Why can’t a company (especially one already invested with the NBA) take advantage of this fandom and build a promotional campaign around the trade deadline?
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