The NBA has come a long way since its first game was played at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in 1946. It’s now a global entity that has spread to regions far beyond North America. The league’s goal, said Mark Tatum, its EVP, global marketing partnerships, is “to be what soccer is on a global basis.” Tatum shared part of the league’s strategy for that huge objective during his presentation Thursday at the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada’s 2013 conference — called “Sponsorship Revolution – in Toronto.
Part of the NBA’s distinct advantage, said Tatum, is that it has amassed the world’s best players. Unlike soccer, which has several separate leagues in which its finest athletes play, the NBA is more akin to the World Cup, said Tatum, since it is a unified collection of basketball’s top players.
Accessibility is another benefit of the sport. Because it can be played almost anywhere and doesn’t require much equipment, it is globally appealing. Tatum said basketball is the second-most-played sport in the world (behind – you guessed it – soccer).
With 760 million NBA fans around the world, Tatum outlined some of the ways the league is getting its product out to people globally. Noting that more than half of the internet traffic to NBA.com comes from outside the U.S., he said that the organization has created 15 language-specific web destinations. From Mandarin to Spanish, these international sites aren’t mere translations of the U.S. version – they are filled with local, customized content.
China is one of the league’s key markets for brand growth. The NBA knew it wanted to make a long-term commitment there and invested resources at a local level. While basketball has been played in China for more than 100 years and the NBA did its first deal with China’s state TV broadcaster more than 30 years ago, Tatum said it’s still important to expose the market to the league and its stars. To fuel growth of the sport in a place where 75% of kids under 16 years old play basketball already, the NBA took the Miami Heat and LA Clippers there last year to play. And this October it will be sending the L.A. Lakers and Golden State Warriors to play as well.
Along with these events, the NBA also engages with partners in China for grassroots marketing efforts, sweepstakes and player appearances. Once it found the right local partners, Tatum said the next step was commercial development and bolstering NBA’s e-commerce in the region. It also opened three physical NBA stores in China.
India is another market in which the NBA is expanding. It’s no easy feat to get a population that hasn’t grown up playing basketball to do so, and the challenge may take 30 or 40 years, said Tatum.
“Our objective is to try to get them playing basketball instead of cricket or soccer,” said Tatum. How? It is creating NBA recreational leagues and sending coaches and players from the league to lead clinics and get people pumped about the sport.
A new deal with Indian sports channel Sony Six that will see three games broadcast per week is also helping the cause.
Sony Six also aired a spot to emphasize the fun of playing the sport.
Turning his talk back to the U.S. and marketing efforts there, Tatum highlighted a Kia partnership activation. Kia was out to change people’s perception of what they think its cars look like. After this effort, Tatum said consumers started associating Kia with performance.
Attendees at Sponsorship Revolutions also heard from a surprise guest: Robert “Big Shot Rob” Horry, who has won seven NBA championships. Horry shared a few tales about his travels overseas to 11 countries since retiring from the league in 2008. During a trip to Taiwan, Horry noticed some fans that had made a “One More Ring than Jordan” sign and asked them to come take pictures with him. They were beyond thrilled to meet him, he said, even though half of them didn’t speak English and Horry had to get their friends to translate.
When asked for any words of wisdom on what it takes to win championships, Horry said something that applies just as well to creating successful sponsorships: “You have to be able to work well with others.”
