The Power of a Great New Product: How LeBron James Rescued the NBA Brand

by Alan Sharavsky

Published on November 7, 2006

Tags: Brand Awareness, Branding, Product Marketing, Targeting

The big white Benz rolled into the parking lot of the 76ers front office. Chrome runner boards, enameled hubcaps, smoked windows—it looked like the car of a Mafia Don, or... a sports agent! "That's it!" I thought to myself. One of the NBA's power brokers had come to swap cigar smoke and players with Sixers management just before the 1992 trading deadline.

As the car door opened, I was surprised to see a Sixers player step out. I waived and said, "Hello, Charles." No, not Charles Barkley. The owner of the bling ride was Charles Shackleford, a little-known and even less-talented forward bought for a song from the Italian league.

From 1991 through 1995, I was marketing director for the Philadelphia 76ers. And my struggle to promote an unworthy Shackleford and an unhappy Charles Barkley was a harbinger of the future of the NBA. It would take a few years, but the whole league would prove susceptible to the same problems any company faces as its brands mature.

Uneven product quality (lousy players), poor customer service (bad player behavior), and few exciting new products (no clear successor to Michael Jordan) would plunge the league into a shooting slump.

From 1996 to 2002, average attendance per game dropped from 17,252 to 16,883. Multiply the difference across 30 teams—game after game, year after year—and you realize that clearly the league had a serious incentive to re-groove its jumper. And according to the NBA's Inside Hoops Web site, it has: "The NBA finished the 2005-06 regular season with the highest average attendance in history.... This year's average attendance of 17,558 fans per game bested the 2004-05 record of 17,314 fans per game and the 1995-96 average of 17,252."

How did the NBA overcome the 1999 retirement of Michael Jordan and a variety of black eyes that might have doomed a lesser brand? It launched and supported a new product—one by the name of LeBron James. From the second that James entered the league in 2003, average attendance climbed.

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article

Membership is required to access this how-to marketing article ... don't worry though, it's FREE!

WANT TO READ MORE?
SIGN UP TODAY ... IT'S FREE!

Your email :

We will never sell or rent your email address to anyone. We value your privacy. (We hate spam as much as you do.) See our privacy policy.

Sign in with your existing account. Simply click your preferred account below!

Alan Sharavsky is creative partner of Whole-Brain Brand Expansion (www.wbbe.biz); reach him at alan@wbbe.biz.

NOTE: MarketingProfs does not allow its content to be lifted wholesale and republished elsewhere without a licensing agreement. For more information on copyright and licensing, see here.