One Way to Deflect From the N.B.A.'s Embarrassments: Funny Ads
By JANE L. LEVERE
Published: February 14, 2005
NY Times
At last, the National Basketball Association can laugh about something. In anticipation of its annual All-Star Game Feb. 20, the N.B.A. has introduced its largest ad campaign ever for its lucrative licensed apparel lines. The campaign, a joint effort by the N.B.A. and Reebok, is a humorous take on the league's marketing efforts. It features Fred Willard, the comedian who has appeared in films like "This Is Spinal Tap" and "A Mighty Wind."
The campaign is clearly designed to bolster merchandise sales, which have sagged since the height of the Michael Jordan era. But it also comes on the heels of a series of high-profile embarrassments for the N.B.A.: the Kobe Bryant sexual assault charges; the disappointing showing of the league-engineered men's basketball team at the Olympics; the decision of Latrell Sprewell, a fading star with the Minnesota Timberwolves, to turn down a $10 million-a-year contract because "I've got my family to feed"; and, worst of all, a Nov. 19 brawl at a Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers game that had players exchanging punches with - and throwing chairs at - fans.
Executives from the N.B.A. and from Reebok, which this season became the league's first exclusive supplier of uniforms and footwear, said that the new campaign had nothing to do with the recent troubles. But the extensive bad publicity could damage the league's carefully cultivated image as a hip sports league.
Steve Miller, who directed the commercials for the new campaign, said that "there's no real mystery" that the N.B.A. has had some image problems. "There's a feeling in the public that they're a little bit frustrated with this behavior. Humor, I think, defuses it. People would like to be able to laugh with the N.B.A., and the ads help them do that."
The campaign, by the Arnell Group, a subsidiary of the Omnicon Group that has previously worked with Reebok, goes behind the scenes in the factory of N.B.A. Industries, a fictitious manufacturer of N.B.A. apparel in Indianapolis. (Reebok actually has a factory in Indianapolis that Arnell executives visited.)
Mr. Willard plays the chief executive, Fred Hutchinson, who seems clueless about his company's operations.
Assisting him are bungling inspectors portrayed by six veteran N.B.A. players: Bill Walton, Walt Frazier, James Worthy, Kenny Smith, Dominique Wilkins and Clyde Drexler. Only two current N.B.A. players - Kenyon Martin of the Denver Nuggets and Peja Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings - appear in the commercials. (Not coincidentally, both Mr. Martin and Mr. Stojakovic are currently under contract with Reebok.)
One of the funniest spots shows the inspectors puzzling over a gargantuan, size 47 sneaker made for Mr. Stojakovic, who speaks Serbian, with his comments translated in English subtitles. He points out that his sneaker size is 14 in the United States, and 47 under Europe size standards.
"Talk about a technical foul, wooo," Mr. Willard says.
Peter Arnell, chairman of the Arnell Group, said, "Our basic premise was that Reebok engages the athletes in the R&D process. We thought we'd put a great sense of entertainment value into the presentation of that.
"We know the fans really well, and we know the consumer loves to be entertained with humor, loves the unexpected."
The campaign's $7 million media budget, which will be spent through the end of June, is $3 million more than the N.B.A. and its previous licensees ever spent on advertising in one season. Although both sides refused to break down costs, the total figure indicates the value of apparel and merchandise sales to N.B.A. and Reebok.
According to The Licensing Letter, which reports on product licensing, North American sales of all N.B.A. merchandise - including apparel, equipment and video games - peaked at $3 billion in 1995.
But sales fell precipitously to $1.2 billion in 2000 and 2001, before climbing back up to $2.2 billion in 2003. Apparel sales make up roughly half of all merchandise revenue.
Martin Brochstein, executive editor of The Licensing Letter, estimated that the N.B.A.'s North American merchandise sales last year "were probably up slightly" over 2003, largely on the strength of video games and retro jerseys.
He added that the N.B.A.'s image problems could affect apparel sales, though he had seen no evidence of this yet.
"Anything that reflects negatively on the league and the athletes in general can have a bad effect at the sales counter or box office," he said.
The commercials are being shown through the end of June on game broadcasts on ABC, TNT, ESPN and NBA TV. NBA TV will also broadcast a one-minute, 45-second film version, which can also be seen on the league's Web site.
Commercials are also being created for ESPN radio, while courtside signage publicizes the Web site.
Sal LaRocca, senior vice president for N.B.A. global merchandising, said that the league and Reebok had deliberately introduced the campaign before the All-Star Game, the league's signature event.
"Most of the sports world is turned to us at that particular time of the year," he said.
Reebok officials declined to estimate how much income sales of N.B.A. apparel could generate for their company, which also is a licensee for the National Football League and National Hockey League, through its subsidiary, the Hockey Company.
Sports marketing specialists and others generally praised the new campaign and predicted that both Reebok and the N.B.A. would benefit from it.
Robert Drbul, a retail analyst for Lehman Brothers who follows Reebok, said that the company's affiliation with the N.B.A. would "help establish authenticity and credibility for the brand."
Artemisia Apostolopoulou, an assistant professor in the sport management program at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, said the combination of veteran and current players in the ads "highlights the sense of history and tradition" in the N.B.A.
"These are well-liked people," she said.
One group that has a keen interest in the campaign is merchants. Jim Root, a vice president of Gerry Cosby & Company, a sporting goods store near Madison Square Garden, where the New York Knicks play, said N.B.A. apparel sales were somewhat slow because the Knicks were not doing very well.
"They only have one player worth talking about, Stephon Marbury," he said. "People want to wear the garments of winners."
Len Zerling, the owner of G & S Sporting Goods in Manhattan, said that the recent incidents, especially the brawl in Detroit, had soured him on the N.B.A. "If I let my emotions decide on what to sell in the store, I wouldn't have any N.B.A. jerseys here." But he added that the N.B.A.'s problems had not hurt sales so far.
By JANE L. LEVERE
Published: February 14, 2005
NY Times
At last, the National Basketball Association can laugh about something. In anticipation of its annual All-Star Game Feb. 20, the N.B.A. has introduced its largest ad campaign ever for its lucrative licensed apparel lines. The campaign, a joint effort by the N.B.A. and Reebok, is a humorous take on the league's marketing efforts. It features Fred Willard, the comedian who has appeared in films like "This Is Spinal Tap" and "A Mighty Wind."
The campaign is clearly designed to bolster merchandise sales, which have sagged since the height of the Michael Jordan era. But it also comes on the heels of a series of high-profile embarrassments for the N.B.A.: the Kobe Bryant sexual assault charges; the disappointing showing of the league-engineered men's basketball team at the Olympics; the decision of Latrell Sprewell, a fading star with the Minnesota Timberwolves, to turn down a $10 million-a-year contract because "I've got my family to feed"; and, worst of all, a Nov. 19 brawl at a Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers game that had players exchanging punches with - and throwing chairs at - fans.
Executives from the N.B.A. and from Reebok, which this season became the league's first exclusive supplier of uniforms and footwear, said that the new campaign had nothing to do with the recent troubles. But the extensive bad publicity could damage the league's carefully cultivated image as a hip sports league.
Steve Miller, who directed the commercials for the new campaign, said that "there's no real mystery" that the N.B.A. has had some image problems. "There's a feeling in the public that they're a little bit frustrated with this behavior. Humor, I think, defuses it. People would like to be able to laugh with the N.B.A., and the ads help them do that."
The campaign, by the Arnell Group, a subsidiary of the Omnicon Group that has previously worked with Reebok, goes behind the scenes in the factory of N.B.A. Industries, a fictitious manufacturer of N.B.A. apparel in Indianapolis. (Reebok actually has a factory in Indianapolis that Arnell executives visited.)
Mr. Willard plays the chief executive, Fred Hutchinson, who seems clueless about his company's operations.
Assisting him are bungling inspectors portrayed by six veteran N.B.A. players: Bill Walton, Walt Frazier, James Worthy, Kenny Smith, Dominique Wilkins and Clyde Drexler. Only two current N.B.A. players - Kenyon Martin of the Denver Nuggets and Peja Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings - appear in the commercials. (Not coincidentally, both Mr. Martin and Mr. Stojakovic are currently under contract with Reebok.)
One of the funniest spots shows the inspectors puzzling over a gargantuan, size 47 sneaker made for Mr. Stojakovic, who speaks Serbian, with his comments translated in English subtitles. He points out that his sneaker size is 14 in the United States, and 47 under Europe size standards.
"Talk about a technical foul, wooo," Mr. Willard says.
Peter Arnell, chairman of the Arnell Group, said, "Our basic premise was that Reebok engages the athletes in the R&D process. We thought we'd put a great sense of entertainment value into the presentation of that.
"We know the fans really well, and we know the consumer loves to be entertained with humor, loves the unexpected."
The campaign's $7 million media budget, which will be spent through the end of June, is $3 million more than the N.B.A. and its previous licensees ever spent on advertising in one season. Although both sides refused to break down costs, the total figure indicates the value of apparel and merchandise sales to N.B.A. and Reebok.
According to The Licensing Letter, which reports on product licensing, North American sales of all N.B.A. merchandise - including apparel, equipment and video games - peaked at $3 billion in 1995.
But sales fell precipitously to $1.2 billion in 2000 and 2001, before climbing back up to $2.2 billion in 2003. Apparel sales make up roughly half of all merchandise revenue.
Martin Brochstein, executive editor of The Licensing Letter, estimated that the N.B.A.'s North American merchandise sales last year "were probably up slightly" over 2003, largely on the strength of video games and retro jerseys.
He added that the N.B.A.'s image problems could affect apparel sales, though he had seen no evidence of this yet.
"Anything that reflects negatively on the league and the athletes in general can have a bad effect at the sales counter or box office," he said.
The commercials are being shown through the end of June on game broadcasts on ABC, TNT, ESPN and NBA TV. NBA TV will also broadcast a one-minute, 45-second film version, which can also be seen on the league's Web site.
Commercials are also being created for ESPN radio, while courtside signage publicizes the Web site.
Sal LaRocca, senior vice president for N.B.A. global merchandising, said that the league and Reebok had deliberately introduced the campaign before the All-Star Game, the league's signature event.
"Most of the sports world is turned to us at that particular time of the year," he said.
Reebok officials declined to estimate how much income sales of N.B.A. apparel could generate for their company, which also is a licensee for the National Football League and National Hockey League, through its subsidiary, the Hockey Company.
Sports marketing specialists and others generally praised the new campaign and predicted that both Reebok and the N.B.A. would benefit from it.
Robert Drbul, a retail analyst for Lehman Brothers who follows Reebok, said that the company's affiliation with the N.B.A. would "help establish authenticity and credibility for the brand."
Artemisia Apostolopoulou, an assistant professor in the sport management program at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, said the combination of veteran and current players in the ads "highlights the sense of history and tradition" in the N.B.A.
"These are well-liked people," she said.
One group that has a keen interest in the campaign is merchants. Jim Root, a vice president of Gerry Cosby & Company, a sporting goods store near Madison Square Garden, where the New York Knicks play, said N.B.A. apparel sales were somewhat slow because the Knicks were not doing very well.
"They only have one player worth talking about, Stephon Marbury," he said. "People want to wear the garments of winners."
Len Zerling, the owner of G & S Sporting Goods in Manhattan, said that the recent incidents, especially the brawl in Detroit, had soured him on the N.B.A. "If I let my emotions decide on what to sell in the store, I wouldn't have any N.B.A. jerseys here." But he added that the N.B.A.'s problems had not hurt sales so far.
