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Sponsors Activate Around NBA All-Stars Game

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The National Basketball League might have to beg LAX for a new runway to handle the sponsors flying in to leverage the 2011 All-Star Game, which happens Feb. 20. At least two dozen brands are activating in the City of Angels that weekend, with a focus on digital crowdsourcing programs, red-carpet celebrity events and top-shelf entertainment at Staples Center and around the city.

Sprite, Kia, BBVA, Taco Bell, American Express, T-Mobile, and State Farm are just a few activating around the game, which hasn't been held in Los Angeles since 2004.

"We are fortunate to be having a tremendous season," says Emilio Collins, SVP of global marketing partnerships at the NBA. He adds that NBA game-broadcast ratings on ESPN and TNT are up 20%, and up 40% on ABC. "For the All-Star Game we have the most activation we have ever seen. But it's really about the depth and scope of new initiatives." First-ever programs include those from American Express, Kia, and T-Mobile.

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American Express, which in December signed a multiyear marketing deal making it official credit card partner of the NBA, will be first-ever presenting partner of the NBA All-Star Entertainment Series. The series this year features Rihanna and Lenny Kravitz, with the latter performing during player introductions and Rihanna doing the half-time show.

David Eisenberg, manager of global media and sponsorships marketing at American Express, says the company won't advertise during the game. Currently, there are no plans to unveil an advertising campaign specifically related to our relationship with the NBA and/or its teams," he says. "We are, however, communicating the access that fans can get to the NBA through online-based messaging."

As part of the deal, Amex is offering its credit card customers a tour of Staples Center, access to artists' rehearsals, and seats adjacent to the performance stage for NBA All-Star Saturday Night and the 2011 NBA All-Star Game.

"With the game in Los Angeles, there is a high entertainment and celebrity factor," says Collins, adding that T-Mobile's Magenta Carpet will include a three-hour lead-in to the game, with the first two hours on NBA TV, and the last on TNT. The carpet will be traversed first by the NBA All-Star players themselves and then a panoply of celebrities and entertainers later.

Banking group BBVA, which last year also signed a multi-year deal with the NBA, is sponsoring the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game the Friday night before -- Feb. 18. That event features people like Justin Bieber, Jimmy Kimmel, Jason Alexander and Common.

Collins says Kia, also a first-time All-Star Game partner, will have a grassroots footprint that weekend around Los Angeles to showcase its vehicles, including the NBA Jam Session, an interactive hoops theme park national grassroots program that Kia sponsors.

"The other thing we are seeing is a lot more fan engagement; partners are just doing a lot more in terms of making fans part of the process," he says. Taco Bell's Skills Challenge, which was introduced in at the All-Star Game in 2003, is using consumer voting to pick participants at NBA.com/ChooseYourSquad.

Kia's MVP program also encourages fans to vote at NBA.com on who they think deserves the MVP nod for the game. Collins says consumer voting will account for 25% of the final tally. And while the second annual Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown involves a panel of judges comprising the likes of LeBron James of the Miami Heat, and NBA Legend Darryl Dawkins, there was also a consumer-voting component. During the initial national search for the best amateur dunkers, fans narrowed the top 10 down to the four finalists who will compete in Los Angeles.

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