In a recent "Sunday Conversation" on ESPN, the interviewee was Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. He spoke about a number of things: his fines being money well spent to make sure his point was heard, how he "almost" sold the team after the finals last year, how he and Stern are cool with each other as long as they don't talk about touchy subjects (in Cuban's words; sex, religion, and politics with NBA officiating falling under the category of religion), and other entertaing stuff. However, the topic that really caught my attention was when he said that the NBA's biggest problem was marketing, that "the league is doing more to convince a kid in Bejing to watch the NBA, than they are a kid in Louisville" (Cuban, 2007).
First of all, he's absolutely right; the NBA hasn't truly trumpeted its product since Jordan retired in '98 (the second time) and the lockout of '99. It's almost as if they feel that the league will never recover from those two marketing nightmares in the span of about a year. Either way, I was intrigued by Cuban's comments so I decided to search for information about the NBA's marketing campaign in China. I haven't found a whole lot yet (I'm definitely not done investigating this), but I did find a somewhat recent article that reported that the NBA now has an "Official Dairy Product of the NBA in China." Not just that, but the Iceman George Gervin was in Bejing to help make the announcement. Ridiculous. Check out the article here: http://www.nba.com/news/mengniu_070121.html?rss=true.
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3 comments:
Hoss,
I watched this Sunday Conversation and I agreed with the marketing standpoint that Mark Cuban took. I feel as if we are trying to market the few big guys in the NBA that are from other countries. This is obviously necessary, but I feel as if our attention is soley focused on trying to get their countries involved while our market is slowly diminishing. Yes, Jordan's retirement did hurt the sport as well as the lockout, but with young stars such as Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James gives the league such an opportunity to go after the younger market. And that is a pretty ridiculous article about the official dairy product of the NBA in China...
I can definitely understand the marketing efforts that the NBA is exploring in not only China but all of Asia. This is undoubtedly a response to the arrival of Yao Ming in the NBA. The NBA must realize the impact that he has had on the game. I was in the barber shop just two weeks ago when we were discussing Yao Ming's success, or lack there of to some, in the NBA thus far. One person mentioned how he has continued to be selected for the All-Star Game every year. One of the barbers said "Sure, when you have 1 billion people in China clicking "Yao Ming", then of course he will be selected. The NBA would be foolish not to capitalize on this untaped market which now has an interest in basketball.
I can definitely see both sides of the coin on this one. We are ignoring our kids in the city, but reaching out to the untapped market of places like Asia. Here's the thing, the NBA marketing guy is a businessman. He looks at dollars and doesn't care who is on the court. If the kid from Louisville doesnt pick up a basketball because of this, then so be it. As long as SOMEBODY is interested and buying jerseys and merchandise, the NBA doesnt care who it is.
These strategies are why you see the increase in foreign players across the board in pro sports. They are living in regions where our marketing people are targeting their countries. They pick up the sport straight from the crib, and then they become dominant.
Bring on Butler...
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