The ball is round again
International: The tarnished image of the scandal-plagued U.S. basketball league, the NBA, has been restored over the past two years. Not least thanks to new sponsorship platforms.
International The battered image of the scandal-ridden US basketball league NBA has been polished up over the past two years, not least thanks to new sponsorship platforms. Negative publicity is nothing new for the players of the US National Basketball Association (NBA). Last season, images of scuffling professional basketball players were all over the TV news, talk and comedy shows. Fallen star shines againOne of the greatest talents, Kobe Bryant, was sued for sexual harassment, and several players had to answer for offenses such as alcohol and drug abuse. But the relationship between the NBA and its sponsors has only been scratched superficially. The Americans like a winner, and in the face of success, scandals are quickly forgotten.
Kobe Bryant in particular, who delivered an outstanding game in January with 81 points, was able to shake off the last doubts about his charisma. After a two-and-a-half-year absence from the screen, his sponsor Nike is once again using him as a popular figure and image bearer on television. "His marketing use is an indication of Kobe's outstanding performance," reads a Nike statement. The company had signed a 12 million dollar contract with Bryant shortly before the sex scandal became public.
The fact that the NBA did not lose more sponsors in the turmoil is mainly due to the non-stop damage limitation efforts of NBA Commissioner David Stern, who has led the league since 1984. Nevertheless, Michael Thibodeau, co-founder of the branding firm Verse Group in New York, recommends that the league strengthen its ties to individual communities and fans. And in his opinion, the sponsors could also do more.
A current point of discussion in the NBA is the possibility of placing sponsor logos on players' jerseys, a strategy that has hardly been taken up in US sport to date. However, if brand names were to appear on players' clothing in the future, this would also be an incentive for the relevant companies to actively participate in so-called "community outreach programs", according to Thibodeau. So far, these projects have mainly been initiated by individual players who, for example, come from underprivileged backgrounds and are committed to improving educational and sporting opportunities in their home towns. "This would be a wonderful opportunity for companies to expand local stadiums and go into schools, for example," says the marketing professional. "So far, advertisers have tended to use sponsorship opportunities opportunistically to embrace the NBA's image of endurance and elegance."
In recent years, NBA teams have increasingly focused on giving their games an event character. "It's all about entertainment. And the NBA does it best of all major league sports," says Kirk Wakefield, Professor of Sports Management at Baylor University in Waco (Texas). It starts with the sports arena, where fans can have fun in advance with interactive games, games for children, restaurants and a club for VIPs.
Interactive entertainment show Once the game has started, nothing is left to chance. "It's choreographed like a movie production," says Wakefield. "Every minute is planned." There are dance interludes that go beyond the usual cheerleading performances, mini-concerts and interviews with film stars that are organized in advance and shown during the commercial breaks of the television broadcasts.
The Utah Jazz marketing team has also come up with a series of games in which fans in the arena interact with the scoreboard via cell phone. There is the "Fastest Fingers Competition" where fans enter certain number combinations into their cell phones and the fastest one wins a prize. They can cast their vote when the animated bear - the team's mascot - performs some stunts on the screen. "We want people to interact and not just passively stand around," says Eric Shultz, marketing vice president for the Utah Jazz. "That's our focus this season."
Interactivity is also flourishing elsewhere. Like all major sports, the NBA has also entered the video game market. The basketball association has launched a series of computer games in collaboration with Electronic Arts. The "NBA Live" franchise is promoted in all games of the US league and has been distributed worldwide since October. Even a series of games that NBA teams will be playing in Europe next fall will be accompanied by the "NBA Europe Live" game. "NBA Europe Live shows how sports teams around the world can work together for the continued growth of their sport," said NBA Commissioner David Stern in a press release. The action in Europe is just one part of the NBA's ongoing efforts to spread the brand worldwide. NBA games are currently televised in almost every country in the world.
Gerti Schön
Kobe Bryant in particular, who delivered an outstanding game in January with 81 points, was able to shake off the last doubts about his charisma. After a two-and-a-half-year absence from the screen, his sponsor Nike is once again using him as a popular figure and image bearer on television. "His marketing use is an indication of Kobe's outstanding performance," reads a Nike statement. The company had signed a 12 million dollar contract with Bryant shortly before the sex scandal became public.
The fact that the NBA did not lose more sponsors in the turmoil is mainly due to the non-stop damage limitation efforts of NBA Commissioner David Stern, who has led the league since 1984. Nevertheless, Michael Thibodeau, co-founder of the branding firm Verse Group in New York, recommends that the league strengthen its ties to individual communities and fans. And in his opinion, the sponsors could also do more.
A current point of discussion in the NBA is the possibility of placing sponsor logos on players' jerseys, a strategy that has hardly been taken up in US sport to date. However, if brand names were to appear on players' clothing in the future, this would also be an incentive for the relevant companies to actively participate in so-called "community outreach programs", according to Thibodeau. So far, these projects have mainly been initiated by individual players who, for example, come from underprivileged backgrounds and are committed to improving educational and sporting opportunities in their home towns. "This would be a wonderful opportunity for companies to expand local stadiums and go into schools, for example," says the marketing professional. "So far, advertisers have tended to use sponsorship opportunities opportunistically to embrace the NBA's image of endurance and elegance."
In recent years, NBA teams have increasingly focused on giving their games an event character. "It's all about entertainment. And the NBA does it best of all major league sports," says Kirk Wakefield, Professor of Sports Management at Baylor University in Waco (Texas). It starts with the sports arena, where fans can have fun in advance with interactive games, games for children, restaurants and a club for VIPs.
Interactive entertainment show Once the game has started, nothing is left to chance. "It's choreographed like a movie production," says Wakefield. "Every minute is planned." There are dance interludes that go beyond the usual cheerleading performances, mini-concerts and interviews with film stars that are organized in advance and shown during the commercial breaks of the television broadcasts.
The Utah Jazz marketing team has also come up with a series of games in which fans in the arena interact with the scoreboard via cell phone. There is the "Fastest Fingers Competition" where fans enter certain number combinations into their cell phones and the fastest one wins a prize. They can cast their vote when the animated bear - the team's mascot - performs some stunts on the screen. "We want people to interact and not just passively stand around," says Eric Shultz, marketing vice president for the Utah Jazz. "That's our focus this season."
Interactivity is also flourishing elsewhere. Like all major sports, the NBA has also entered the video game market. The basketball association has launched a series of computer games in collaboration with Electronic Arts. The "NBA Live" franchise is promoted in all games of the US league and has been distributed worldwide since October. Even a series of games that NBA teams will be playing in Europe next fall will be accompanied by the "NBA Europe Live" game. "NBA Europe Live shows how sports teams around the world can work together for the continued growth of their sport," said NBA Commissioner David Stern in a press release. The action in Europe is just one part of the NBA's ongoing efforts to spread the brand worldwide. NBA games are currently televised in almost every country in the world.
Gerti Schön
