NBA to score with local consumers
By Liu Baijia (China Daily)Updated: 2006-12-26 15:11 Every time Heidi Ueberroth pays a visit to new business associates, she gives them a red-white-and-blue NBA (National Basketball Association) lapel pin shaped like a basketball player.
 Heidi Ueberroth, President of NBA Global Marketing Partnerships and International Business Operations |
Ueberroth hopes the recipients see the pins as more than just a souvenir from the president of NBA Global Marketing Partnerships and International Business Operations. For her, they provide an opportunity to personally pass along the NBA connection.
Presenting the pin has become compulsory for all staff at the NBA China office in Beijing . The idea is that the pins serve as contact points that build an emotional and marketing connection between the most popular sports organization in China and its fans.
"The starting point (of sports marketing) is to find that connection with your fans," said Ueberroth, who was ranked by the US magazine Sports Business Journal among the "40 under 40" most influential sports business leaders.
Like many multinationals with tens of millions of customers in China, the NBA faces the challenge of finding out who and where their customers are and building what they hope will be long-lasting emotional connections.
China's General Administration of Sports estimates there are more than 300
million basketball players in China. Among people aged 15 to 24, 83 per cent say
they are NBA fans, according to the London-based research firm TNS.
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