An interesting question came up in our class at Columbia on Thursday, which has a great mix of students from around the globe in it. If you are working in the communications and marketing offices at the NBA in New York and China and you are following the FIBA World Cup and seeing the U.S. team and its fall from global perception to the casual fan, who is having the better day?
The answer today is probably much different than the storytelling spin that happened even as much as fifteen years ago. The reality is that if you are working for NBA teams and the league in North America and are selling the global game with brands looking to expand their footprint; think of Lenovo and Rakuten and many others, you are seeing the world coming together. If you are in emerging countries for basketball like China and India and even now across the African continent, and have partners who are looking to see the massive American stars first and foremost, you may not be as happy. That is the challenge and the opportunity of the world Adam Silver has today vs. the growing disruptive global basketball landscape that David Stern oversaw around the turn of the millennium and then some.
The reality is that the NBA as a business and a storytelling vehicle does not really ebb and flow with the results in China these past few weeks, and maybe helps rekindle the hoops development and global commitment angle as well. In the past you might mention names like Bogdan Bogdanovic, Luis Scola, Frank Ntilikina, Rudy Goubert, Rudy Fernández, Marc Gasol, Patty Mills, and Matthew Dellevedova to the casual fan and they might say “who”? In today’s global world they are filling NBA rosters and are “our guys” as much as the Americans are who play beside them. Their video clips, their social followings, their stories are on our phones and can be engaged with year round. We know them, we know and follow their lives, and they are us. There are no secrets, and we have great affinity to these phenomenal athletes, and maybe, if we are watching, are rooting for them as much as we would have for Team USA in the past. While there are many hoops lifers who see this as the world catching up to the US in terms of talent, the reality is the stories transcend borders and make us all interested and engaged throughout the NBA season because we know these athletes better today than ever before, and like in the global game of soccer, that’s a good thing.
It’s also great for the business of basketball. Last year the NBA opened the doors for teams to expand their sales rights outside the traditional local radius, giving teams the ability to work better and activate more abroad with merging brands that wanted to work with them on both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific. If teams wanted to open offices and sell, they now could a lot easier than before. The Wizards want to work with Etihad Airways not just in Washington but in the Middle East, let’s figure out how to get it done. Global stars help that effort, and global champions who are NOT American also widen the narrative and give teams the ability also to sell and market to community groups tied to that player’s ethnicity much easier. We all love a winner, especially one who looks and talks like us. The “US vs them” mentality is not what it used to be.
Now does this mean that it’s all rosy when Team USA in any sport doesn’t do well? No. There was no shortage of patriotism, good feelings, and dollars being spent when Team USA brought the World Cup back this past summer and the headlines always play to a wider casual audience when the hometown team brings home success. However it is not the disaster for brand basketball that it once was. Another wakeup call? Sure. But the familiarity with global stars at least form a business standpoint, isn’t setting off loud alarms across America this week. Will things change and it become a bigger deal come the Tokyo Olympics next summer? It is a much bigger stage and may bring bigger names and with it some companies that will be relying more on American success. But at the end of the day, the story of the global reach of the NBA really rings loud and true, and the league from a brand standpoint stands strong. The best play here, no matter where they are from, and with that comes the business and the fans who engage wherever they are on whatever device they choose. We bring best in class to you.
Getting back to the folks at the office in China. The issue in still building the American names…Durant, Harden, Westbrook, James…to their millions of fans is still a key marketing opportunity. They are growing in brand savviness, but western ties, and American players, are still an easy entry point. Do they love Giannis? Of course. But they still want American starpower to drive engagement, so maybe their hopes for American domination on the court ring a little louder. Like the American fans, they will adjust too.
Basketball as a brand is global, and the NBA won’t miss a beat, even with an American finish near the bottom of the table. Times they have changed, and that’s not a bad thing.
