NBA drops Chinese insert to salute Yao, Wang and Bateer
( 2003-10-29 11:43) (mickey@dmnews.com)
The National Basketball Association drops its first Chinese-language print
supplement Oct. 31 to highlight the achievements of three Chinese players.
Created by ad agency Kang & Lee, New York, the 12-page glossy insert
will run in newsstand editions of The World Journal and Singtao Daily
newspapers. These Chinese-language publications are most popular in New York,
Chicago, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco and New Jersey.
"Last season more than 15 NBA teams incorporated Asian-American marketing
efforts into their overall marketing plans," NBA international senior vice
president Andrew Messick said in a statement.
"With the emergence and growing popularity of Asian players and the
ever-changing demographics of the U.S., the NBA's marketing efforts to reach the
Asian-American community will grow," he said.
The United States has more than 2.4 million Chinese residents, with a median
household income of $51,444. The NBA supplement will reach 70 percent of that
population.
The insert salutes Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets, Mengke Bateer of the
Toronto Raptors and Wang Zhizhi of the Los Angeles Clippers. Content also
includes information on the NBA's rising popularity in China, a peek at the NBA
China Games 2004 between the Rockets and Sacramento Kings in Beijing and
Shanghai, news and the league's 2003-04 TV schedule.
Basketball is increasingly attracting a wider fan base in China. In the
2002-03 season, 14 broadcasters televised NBA games and programs in China, with
NBA programming reaching 314 million households. The league recently debuted the
site at www.nba.com/china in Chinese.
The NBA plans another Chinese-language print supplement for release in
February prior to the weeklong festivities of NBA All-Star 2004 in Los Angeles.
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