Which Brands Won While the NBA Lockout Darkened Their Biggest Stage?

Kevin Durant, Grant Hill and Even NBA 2K12 Game Did Alright -- or Better


For hundreds of professional basketball players and the dozens of brands that market around them, the NBA lockout kept them off the hardwood and the airwaves too.


But some players and marketers delivered branding success stories amid all the lost revenue, missed paychecks and endorsement deals on hold.

More than just immediate income, their efforts helped them maintain brand position while their biggest stage was dark. If players and owners ratify the tentative deal that came over the long Thanksgiving weekend, these are the brands that will start the new season on Christmas Day with the strongest possible position.


Kevin Durant

Between stealing the show at virtually every charity game, working out with LeBron James in promotional videos, and randomly showing up at a Twitter follower's flag-football game, Kevin Durant's YouTube viewership this off-season looked a lot more like NBA Finals ratings.

The young superstar seems to be everywhere lately. He toured China. His limited edition Nike kicks were launched with a popular Back to the Future-themed campaign. Oh, and he shot a movie called "Switch" in the time that was freed up by the lockout.

Throughout he maintained his image as a humble yet hip dude who's just obsessed with hooping, solidifying his role as the league's most likable superstar.


 
Take-Two Interactive


It would be impossible for Take-Two's NBA video game brand to top the success of last year's NBA 2K11, which totally reinvented basketball game-play, nabbed Michael Jordan as a sponsor, sold a record 5.5 million copies, and won a "best sports game of this generation" mention from IGN Editor-in-Chief Hilary Goldstein.

But this year's follow-up NBA 2K12 came close -- no small feat with players locked out of real play and the sport off the air. It features legendary teams of the past, with historically accurate commentary, uniforms and graphics that make for a unique, immersive experience. It's unclear whether the historical-teams maneuver was made in anticipation of the lockout (Take-Two declined to comment), but it sure looked like a savvy move with the benefit of hindsight. The game offers plenty to keep both casual and diehard fans busy, and critics adore it. After a strong opening that topped 2K11's, sales have slowed just a bit. Some predicted the franchise would lose millions due to the work stoppage, but Take-Two positioned its series to endure as well as conceivably possible.

Grant Hill


The aging Phoenix Suns swing-man is angling to become the next post-career Magic Johnson, the brand of a disciplined businessman with a deep portfolio of properties to ensure a dynamic life after his playing days.

Hill Ventures, the company he founded shortly after entering the league, took up more of his time while he was off the court, expanding its real-estate holdings, philanthropic activity and Grant Hill Collection of African-American Art. Mr. Hill has also pursued the lifestyle space, appearing on the cover of family cooking magazine Chop Chop earlier this year to talk up healthy eating and offering more health tips on his website.

He was recently elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame's board of governors. Put it together, and you've got an aging All-Star turned NBA elder statesman well positioned for life after basketball.


Bill Simmons

The nation's most famous basketball writer did okay without basketball. Mr. Simmons' experiment in literary sports writing, Grantland.com, kicked off during the 2011 NBA Finals and has experienced continued modest growth ever since. How? Some lockout coverage, yes, a few player interviews, sure; but most of all, Grantland has diversified. The site is only loosely basketball-centered, meaning it can lean on the sport without missing a beat during the lockout, focusing instead on football, TV, or internet memes.

"We had to improvise," Mr. Simmons wrote Wednesday, recalling the NBA lockout, the NFL lockout and other headwinds at launch. The site went big on Father's Day, ran a couple of oral histories and played up soccer and tennis, he said. "Repeat: We had to play up soccer and tennis."

Grantland also benefits from a lack of competitors. Mr. Simmons recognized that traditional sports coverage wasn't hitting the spot for many smart, critical sports fans. The site has established a recognizable brand in under half a year, largely by being thoughtful in a business often reduced to the lowest common denominator of highlight reels and cliches. It's no surprise familiar authors such as Dave Eggers, Malcolm Gladwell and Chuck Klosterman have jumped on board.

Baron Davis


The star point guard, banished to the post-LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers, took on a daunting challenge during his time away from the court: teaching men how to dress.

The 32-year old, who's lost a step from his younger days and has only so many years left when he can command his $14 million salary, is in pre-production for a movie he's spearheading called "American Schlub." It earned him front-page love from no less than The Wall Street Journal, and left some wondering if he's angling for a gig in the fashion industry when his playing days are over.

"We used to be fashion forward," Mr. Davis told The Wall Street Journal. "[Now] we're more of a sweats and Ugg boots type of society. We wanted to challenge men, from that perspective."

Kevin Durant & J.Cole Nike Promo

Thank God, the NBA lockout is over. Before tip-off this Christmas, Kevin Durant takes us to Oklahoma City for Nike’s Basketball Never Stops ad featuring music from Sam Cooke and a brief cameo from J.Cole.

Networks Working to Poach NBA Advertisers

Adidas Moves Commercials for Derrick Rose Shoe to NFL Games


 
 

With the basketball lockout dragging into Thanksgiving and even a partial season increasingly in doubt, networks that don't carry the NBA are trying to poach advertisers from networks that normally do.


Their sales pitches are focusing on sports programming and other entertainment options that cater to young men, according to interviews with multiple industry insiders, as well as integrated digital and social-media marketing opportunities that networks are painting as very much on the rise.

"I have three young male brands that can be a great alternative to the NBA," said Jeff Lucas, head of sales for Viacom Media Networks Music and Entertainment Group, confirming that his sales team is pitching NBA advertisers. "Business has to go on. Advertisers have to sell product. They can't just sit on the sidelines and wait."

Viacom has already "seen some ad dollars flow our way," Mr. Lucas said, though he wouldn't name specific marketers making the jump.

"Every sales team on the street has an NBA alternative plan they're pitching to advertisers," said Jeff Siegel, senior VP for global media sales at digital technology company Rovi and a former sales executive at ESPN. "I think people were holding on to money in the hope that the season would be saved. But people are more pessimistic now, and you'll start hearing more about money shifting because people have to make plans."

The lowest-hanging fruit for would-be poachers: brands that specifically need sports ratings points to market new product launches. Adidas, for example, had been slated to air an ad during NBA games of Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose evading bull fighters for the launch of its new adiZero Rose 2 shoe. But with the NBA off the air, Adidas moved that money to pro football broadcasts, according to people familiar with the shift.

Whether the poaching efforts resonate with marketers, however, remains to be seen. ESPN, which said it's working closely with advertisers and is "prepared to re-express dollars currently committed to the NBA to other properties," is protected by a deep menu of sports programming options. Turner, whose TNT network airs NBA games, said it's moving ad dollars to platforms like TBS and Adult Swim, and will be bolstered by its share of NCAA men's college basketball tournament games in March.

But missing the start of an NBA season is one thing. NBA advertising dollars are heavily backloaded toward the second half of the season and the playoffs, so if the lockout stretches past into next year, holding on to that money will become a taller order.

"To date [ESPN and Turner] have been fairly successful in maintaining some of the spend level they would have had in NBA programming," said Bryce Townsend, CEO of Group M ESP, Group M's entertainment and sports marketing arm. "For both ESPN and Turner, as we get later into this year and into next year, it definitely becomes more challenging. You have brands that will exercise options to pull back their commitments."

Among the most likely successful poachers could be CBS, Fox and its portfolio of sports programming, NBC and its soon-to-be relaunched sports network, and Viacom Media Networks Music and Entertainment Group, which includes Spike TV, Comedy Central and MTV2.

By no means are the bottom lines of either network in peril yet, and there's no indication of an impending mass exodus of NBA advertisers. But the sales pitches are sure to continue and intensify as time goes on.

"They know there are ad dollars in play," said a top sports marketing executive who used to work with the NBA. "Right now, it's a buyers' market. The other networks have to be creative in how they're trying to provide opportunities to swing advertisers in their direction. Keep in mind that a lot of this is about trying to reach a male demographic, and there's a significant amount of content that's no longer available.

"It makes the scatter marketplace more robust, because you've got a billion dollars of inventory now floating around," this executive added. The "scatter" market is where marketers buy ad time close to air date, as opposed to the annual "upfront" market where they make commitments ahead of time.

Christmas Day, when the NBA usually airs a full slate of big matchups on national TV, could become a turning point for advertisers and networks if it passes with no basketball, according to Mr. Townsend. "That would be a big loss," he said.

Jordan: Love The Game starring Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony

NBA players, locked out by their league's owners and stuck in a labor impasse, recently attempted to curry public favor with a social media campaign using the words "Let Us Play." Of course, it backfired, as fans pointed out that there was a deal on the table (albeit a terrible one) that would have allowed the players to return to work immediately if they simply signed off on it. Appealing to the public for sympathy and pointing their collective finger at the owners just didn't strike the right chord with fans who can easily find fault with both sides.


Leave it to Jordan Brand to find the proper wording and tone that has eluded the NBPA for months. Building on Nike's "Basketball Never Stops" tagline that's dotted t-shirts at exhibition games throughout the summer, Jordan has released a two-minute long commercial that paints the players in a better light than any Billy Hunter interview could.

Starring Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade, New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul and New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, the ad aims to show how devoted the players are to their craft, regardless of the lockout. To prove it, Wade, Anthony and Paul are shown competing in a variety of pick-up games and intramural leagues near their home NBA market. Wade stars in the Miami Kiwanis Club League, the Flamingo Sr. Rec Center League and the Dade County Municipal League; Paul runs game in the NOLA Inter-Parish League and the Bayou Women's League; Anthony holds court in a Williamsburg pick-up game, at Five-Star Basketball Camp and in the Jewish under-40 league. Wade, Paul, and Anthony face off against opponents of both genders and all ages, races and creeds.

As the ad wraps, the All-Star trio comes together for an exhibition game in Beijing, China, with fans giddy in anticipation. Finally, the tagline -- "Love The Game... No Matter What" -- splashes on the screen to conclude the commercial.

In terms of pure public relations value, "Love The Game" wins in a landslide over "Let Us Play." Even the most cynical observer can appreciate demonstrated passion for basketball. The players may never win the sympathy of the general public, but putting aside the financial aspects of the lockout to focus on a universal love for the game, as Jordan has done here, should earn them some renewed respect.

NBA Lockout Will Cost Networks BillionsPro hoops debacle could be a disaster for ESPN, TNT

By Anthony Crupi

Minutes after the NBA officially announced the July 1 lockout, Sacramento Kings forward/center DeMarcus Cousins offered what was perhaps the most cogent, and funny, take on the players’ financial prospects. In a tweet posted Thursday at around 7:30 p.m. EDT, the big man asked, “Is Walmart hiring?”


Cousins has $3.37 million in salary at stake, so it’s understandable that he’s a bit antsy about his personal finances. Should the NBA season be scuttled altogether, however, billions of dollars would be washed away, and no one will take a bigger hit than the league’s network of TV partners.

ESPN/ABC Sports and TNT stand to lose as much as $1.25 billion in ad sales revenue if the labor dispute negates the entire 2011-12 NBA campaign. Indeed, the NBA audience has become so valuable that the postseason inventory alone accounts for nearly a fifth of the full-season take.

According to Kantar Media, ESPN/ABC and TNT took in $417.7 million in total ad sales revenue over the course of the 2010 NBA playoffs and finals. The going rate for a 30-second spot in the Celtics-Lakers series: $402,000 a pop.

If the networks stand to lose a fortune in ad dollars, the league itself risks billions in media rights, ticket sales, and merchandising. ESPN/ABC pays $485 million per year for the rights to air NBA games while TNT forks over $445 million.

Adding up to a cool $930 million per season, both TV contracts expire in 2016.

With ad sales brokered by Turner Sports, the league-owned NBA TV platform takes in approximately $50 million in sponsor dollars. Also at risk are the regional sports networks that carry NBA action, including the Fox Sports Nets and New York powerhouses YES Network (home to the New Jersey Nets) and MSG (Knicks).

League sponsors will need to scramble to make up for the diminished brand exposure. Last year, the Spanish financial giant BBVA Group signed a four-year, $100 million deal with the league, making it the official bank of the NBA. Bacardi, State Farm, and American Express are also marquee NBA sponsors.

As is the case with the NFL, the pro hoops dustup is largely about money. In April, NBA commissioner David Stern claims the league was on track to lose $300 million this season; as such, the owners want to reapportion the split of revenue between the franchises and players.

“The expiring collective bargaining agreement created a broken system that produced huge financial losses for our teams,” said NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver. “We need a sustainable business model that allows all 30 teams to be able to compete for a championship, fairly compensates our players, and provides teams, if well-managed, with an opportunity to be profitable.”

The NBA has locked out players before, most recently during the 1998-99 season. That dispute cleaved the schedule to 50 games and soured millions of fans. It took three years before TV ratings returned to prelockout levels.

NBA Lockout Would Put $1B in TV Ad Revenue at Stake

Also in Danger: Chunk of $2.7B Licensed Products Market...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Halfway through the 2010-11 National Basketball Association season, it's already been one of the finest in league history by almost every metric -- and that's just one more reason why a potential lockout and protracted labor negotiation between the owners and the players will threaten far more than simply the bottom line of a financial statement.

Although the National Football League's potential labor dispute is more top of mind -- its collective bargaining agreement with players ends in six weeks -- the NBA is dealing with its own issues. While its current agreement with the players doesn't expire until June 30, both sides are trying to avoid a situation that some sports-marketing experts have termed "more dire" than the NFL labor conflict.

At stake? About $1 billion in TV ad revenue for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC/ESPN and Turner Broadcasting's TNT, the main rights holders for NBA games; sponsors and advertisers that are facing the possibility of a second potential sports-programming platform disappearing; a global stage that Nike (and, to a lesser extent, Reebok) uses to hawk shoes; a huge chunk of the $2.7 billion licensed products market, most of which Adidas makes and sells; and brand equity at a pivotal time for the league, both domestically and internationally.


And don't think it isn't real. Phoenix Suns player Jared Dudley recently tweeted: "If you are in the NBA: I need all NBA players to save there [sic] money. Be prepared to live without a check for at least a year. This is serious."

The NBA is as hot as it's been in years. The buzz began three months before the season even tipped off, when LeBron James announced on live TV last July during "The Decision" that he would be leaving his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. The league reportedly had a record 50,000 new season-ticket requests. The buzz has continued through the first half of the season with the potential for an NBA Finals between Mr. James and the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant -- by far the two most marketable players in the league -- as well as the resurgence of big-market teams such as the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls and the emergence of young stars such as Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and John Wall of the Washington Wizards.


Attendance at games is flat, down 1% compared to last year, but TV ratings on ESPN and TNT are up a whopping 30%. Advertisers and sponsors have noticed the resurgent fan interest.

The two sponsors that stand to lose the most are the newest ones -- Spanish banking group BBVA and American Express. BBVA, which is looking for increased brand exposure, signed a four-year, $100 million deal with the league this year. And American Express just returned as a sponsor after a five-year absence.

"The problem is this," said one chief marketing officer for an NBA partner. "It's not so much the money that we spend with the league and on the ads, it's how do you fill the hole in the promotional schedule? I mean, you can give me a make-good, but sometimes there's no real way to make good."

TNT clearly has the programming to fill the void if there is no NBA next season, but sports-centric ESPN would have to scramble. Unlike the NBA lockout in 1999, ESPN no longer has the National Hockey League to fall back on. And, according to a report prepared by analysts from RBC Capital, Disney derives 55% of its revenue from sports, primarily from ESPN.

As with the NFL, the NBA dispute is mostly over money. The NBA, claiming it lost $370 million last year, wants to change entirely a system that currently gives the players 57% of the revenue. The league doesn't open its books, so that revenue loss is disputed by the players union.

"Nobody is anxious to have a lockout or a work stoppage," said Neil Pilson, the former CBS Sports president who now runs his own consultancy, Pilson Communications. "From a cable [network] standpoint, a lockout would be manageable. But then you have a lot of goodwill there that's threatened."

And that goes beyond just the U.S. More than 300 million people play basketball recreationally in China, which has a deep fascination with the NBA and its superstars. Mr. Bryant was treated like a rock star -- some might even say a god -- when he played for the U.S. team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

And what of the sneaker business? The basketball shoe market is a $2.4 billion market. Between the traditional Nike brand and Nike-owned Jordan Brand and Converse, the Swoosh controls 94% market share in basketball shoes. Though it might seem like it, Nike is not an official NBA sponsor.

Nike, through a spokesman, declined to comment. Matt Powell, an analyst with Charlotte, N.C.-based SportsOne Source, said, "Kids are the primary buyers and if kids are still playing ball, it won't have a dramatic impact. But it will have some impact. With no NBA, there's no way for Nike or Reebok to showcase a new guy [in endorsements]."

Story by Rich Thomaselli of www.adage.com