• by John Gaffney , June 3, 2002

Rebounding Riffs: Here's why I like NBA Commissioner David Stern. His sport has suffered the loss of the best athlete ever, and its about to find its stride again. And that stride is good news for media planners, because the NBA delivers urban markets like Nets point guard Jason Kidd delivers passes: right on the money. Stern has more to due with NBA marketing and positioning than you think. I had the privilege of working with him in a former sports marketing life, and I know that even when Bird, Magic and Jordan were driving ratings through the roof, he wanted the NBA to be about the game. He wanted marketers to tie-in with the game. He wanted the game to project an exciting, fan friendly image so sponsors could ride those coattails. He knew players would come and go. But the brand had to endure. After a few tough years its paying off. Recent playoff series have improved ratings. The championship series features LA vs New Jersey (hey, at least its metro New York) and has enough superstar juice to carry the big brands. The NBA used to be the same brand as Michael Jordan. Now its not, and it will continue to thrive. There’s a lesson to be learned there. Next year Stern and the NBA debut with new cable partners (ABC/ESPN) and they’ll want inclusion on your media plan. I think they’ll have a good story to tell........

Upfront Riffs: I'm as happy as anyone else that the networks are unloading their ad inventory. But I’m sensing the whole industry heaving this huge sigh of relief. What if they had trouble selling upfront space? You would have had buzzards circling and emails buzzing about the end of network TV. There’s always next year........

Good Agency Websites: I keep getting emails from the intrepid, claiming that there agency's website runs contrary to my claim that ad agency websites are tougher to navigate than a TiVo owners manual. Today’s shining example: www.mediasmithinc.com. Easy to navigate and actually had content that told me some things I didn’t know before. Check out the White Papers area.