When the world closes down as a result of a pandemic, and you are in the sports and entertainment industry, how do you keep your marketing partners engaged and excited when they, like everyone else, can’t even leave their homes? Being masters at relationship building, the NBA went right to work in creating a unique project to help them connect with their partners from home; a custom puzzle featuring the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy!
THE GAME PLAN
Early in the pandemic, and with major sports being placed on hiatus, the NBA came up with various ways to reach out and engage with their marketing partners like never before. Always able to take the pulse of what is trending in consumer behaviour, they came to the conclusion that the best way they could connect with their partners was to give them something they could:
- interact with
- use at home and
- can use with their families and friends within their stay-at-home bubbles
With so many people staying home, there was a very visible increase of interest and purchases in home activities, including games and puzzles. The NBA recognized this would be an effective way to provide a meaningful connection to their partners.
THE PLAY BY PLAY
Once they knew what they wanted, an NBA themed game or puzzle, the league set out to find something that would fit. They turned to their trusted friends here at Genumark to help bring the idea to life.
The NBA narrowed down their choice to a puzzle, something perfect for families stuck at home to do together, and gave Genumark the responsibility to source it. Our Sports & Licensing Team set off and found multiple options of different sized puzzles, including the flexibility to design their own custom puzzle, and helped the NBA navigate to their selection.
Genumark then took over the heavy lifting of ensuring that the logistics were taken care of behind the scenes. We took the list of addresses, packed each puzzle and facilitated all the shipping.
CALLING A FOUL – CHALLENGES FACED
The first challenge was deciding on the right image. The NBA has thousands of amazing photos and artwork that they can utilize. However, the league wanted to find an image that looked different from other NBA promotional products. Their team dug through their archives and found a perfect match! Something that was unique, would make for a challenging puzzle, and distinctively NBA. The image selected was taken from the NBA Winners’ Corner presented by OLG activation from 2019. It is the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy taken in a room with surrounding mirrors, creating a fantastical reflection illusion. An awesome choice for this puzzle!
The second challenge; the logistics of sourcing and shipping during the pandemic. It is a predicament that remains an issue across the globe, over a year later. Thankfully, Genumark was able to help navigate through a lot of the strains by utilizing their experience and close relationship with our vendor to do our part in bringing this project to life.
A SLAM DUNK?
It was a thunderous success! All the marketing partners were excited and uplifted to receive a gift from the NBA during a hard and awkward time across the country. Partners loved that it was a non-traditional looking puzzle, but still very NBA themed. Lots of family and friends had great fun putting this one together!
Have your own project in mind?
