With challenges on the court, the Nets, Knicks and Sixers looks to build buzz and brand

BY JOE FAVORITO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

ON N.J. SPORTS MARKETING

In a struggling economy and with struggling teams, the area's three professional basketball teams — the Sixers, Knicks and Nets, have had to get more and more innovative to draw the casual fan and get their associated brands more exposure as the NBA season moves into its long marathon through winter.

While the real key to success for filling seats and bringing in new revenue remains having the great combination of innovative business planning, marketable stars and a successful and exciting product, finding all three at once can be very elusive. Especially when it comes to these three NBA teams, all of whom are going through a transition at the same time.

The Nets remain one of the country's most aggressive teams in constantly finding ways to get exposure for the fan and their partners with the team. Whether it is injured star Devin Harris signing autographs at Pathmark or center Yi Jianlian meeting members of the Chinese business community, there always seems to be something going on off the court with the Nets, who still generate buzz even without a win thus far in the season.

The Knicks have also made innovations and efforts to expand and make their brand even more accessible as they go through another transition year and point toward the summer of 2010. The Knicks are having coach Mike D'Antoni host his own show on MSG Network for the first time and are coming up with more programs which give exposure to various segments of the community — from Veteran's Day discounts to servicemen and women to expansion of youth programs with access to players and coaches. All that push comes with the caveat that the Knicks have matched the worst start in their history at 1-7, but still are filling large numbers of seats at The World's Most Famous Arena.

Then there are the Sixers, arguably the best on-court outfit of the three, with young marketable stars in Andre Iguodala, Seton Hall's Samuel Dalembert and others. But the Sixers, in the shadow of the Phillies, the Eagles and the Flyers, have suffered from a drop in attendance and brand awareness as well in the last few years, despite a quality on-court product. Their answer: Also an increased community presence and more brand activation (including drives to increase web traffic with discounts and creating Ladies Nights promotions), with the goal to again drive more ticket sales and connect the team again with the passionate basketball fans that Philly has always been known for.

So, can the trio succeed in filling arenas and brining in new brands with obvious on-court challenges, especially for the Knicks and Nets? So far the teams seem to be holding their own in staying relevant in the marketplace as the casual fan transitions his or her mindset from summer sports to those of winter. All three are finding ways to implement social networking and give value to the brands who have been loyal to them, and all three have the most important buy in of all — from the hoops front office and the league, which does put a priority, perhaps more than any of the four major sports — on having players and coaches be accessible to the media, to fans and brand partners.

The other positive piece of all the work being done now is that it sets a very strong base for fans and partners when the teams do turn the on-court performance around. All those "little extras' — appearances, autograph signings, on court contests — give great added value now, and can pay nice dividends when demand for tickets and brand partnerships increase as on-court performance improves.

Is all the buzz and brand creation able to move the needle forward with a challenged on court product? It can a bit, but at the end of the day you need the star power and positive results to complete the picture. What the community and brand partnership work does do is make sure the brand stays relevant to the core fan who follows every year, an incentive to those who have invested to stay on, and sets the base for the future.

In that way, all three teams are winning the battle thus far in the long NBA season, hopefully with results on the court to mirror that business and buzz push at some point soon.

Joe Favorito has over 23 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. Visit him at JoeFavorito.com.