Fear The Deer.
Given the Milwaukee Bucks on court success this year, led by “The Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo, it’s not hard to understand how the team has become the toast of the NBA. Young. Athletic, play at a fast pace, accessible players in a new arena in a sports hungry town with a new arena; they are the epitome of the small market taking on the world and succeeding.
It’s a great story.
However the story doesn’t just happen, there are actually a whole slew of underlying narratives that can constantly be told across media big and small for an organization that is leaning forward, proactive and listening to the market around them; not just locally but more importantly, regionally, nationally and globally. That is really the opportunity that the Bucks front office, with veteran PR guy Barry Baum at the helm of the storytelling, has been able to do; find ways to amplify not just what the team is doing on the court. That frankly helps take care of its self with success. It is what the Bucks have done with an off the court narrative that has really placed them in a position to strike as the two sides of the business; the team side and the business die have come together as they NBA playoffs near.
Some may say this is easy to do. You have a new building in a small market, what else can the media cover. Well the answer is lots of things. A team, done right, is a part of the community and is an entertainment option, and a pricey one at that, for people with limited discretionary income. You need to be able to proactively go out and touch the casual fans over a wide geographic area to help make them feel part of the organization and earn their trust. That may actually be true more in a small market like Milwaukee than even a bigger market like Chicago, where although you have a larger amount of people to draw from and lots of competition, the lure of an elite professional franchise will still get you some volume for the casual fan. In Milwaukee, maybe not so as easily if the fans don’t know all the narratives.
So where and how have the Bucks done their weaving? Everywhere. Want to talk about Bucks and esports, how about USA Today. The fandom they have built, with owners who hail from New York and a team president who built brands in the Apple as well? How about the New Yorker. Have a rising star who loves engaging with kids and he is not named Giannis? How about SI for Kids. Unveiling a unique design in your new arena? Hit up Architectural Digest. Have an exec on the rise who went to Michigan? How about the Detroit Free Press. Local kids part of a dance team? Let’s go the local news route.
Then you take all the stories and use the power of digital and the NBA to amplify them to a larger more engaged audience, and use each one as a stepping stone to again, proactively reach out to other media with yet more stories you learn. And how do they learn the goings on? By listening to those around you. In an era when many teams, leagues, colleges and organizations are still learning back to storyteller, the Bucks lean forward, and the result is a great line of stories that have been told to diverse audiences, regardless of on court success. It is a smart plan to guard against the rainy day; the dark, losing days that many organizations encounter. By building those stories far and wide, you give people reasons to stick with you when the wins aren’t there.
Now what happens when the wins are there? That’s the sunny day that teams dream about. However the proactivity doesn’t stop when the building is full for the best of storytellers. They are always looking for the what’s next, and the Bucks have done that to the max.
Their communications lead is no stranger to this formula, as he led the exaction of a similar model with the Nets as they moved to Brooklyn and opened the Barclays Center. There were few days that passed in the Apple when you didn’t hear, read or see something about the team, its partners or its stories and leadership away from the court. Milwaukee presented its own challenges and the team’s rise in the NBA certainly didn’t hurt, but the storytelling has gone on way beyond basketball. It us a positive art form, being able to find places big and small to get the news out, and the Bucks gave really been an example of what can be done with a valued franchise to go beyond its borders.
Fear the Deer? Nah. Model what they have done from a communications standpoint. Well done Bucks, and the playoffs await.
