It was an epic 73 rd NBA All-Star basketball weekend in Indianapolis. It is one on the most exciting and anticipated event globally. The long weekend event, in the hosting city, is a celebration of the sport of basketball giving families, fans and especially young fans an opportunity to meet their hero player in person.
It is a fun weekend with a lot of exciting evens where the league brightest stars have a chance to showcase their talent, like talent competition, three-point’s shooting and dunk contest and other activities. The highlight of the weekend is the all-star game where it is a fun game with usually a high scoring game.
In addition to the sport’s game and competitions it is a fan experience where basketball culture takes center stage. The excitement of this event is the intersections of art, music, fashion, technology, and entertainment.
One on the notable first ever event was the three-point contest between the NBA and the WNBA. The sensational Sabrina Lonescu competes with NBA all time three-point scorer Steph Curry. As Sabrina stated at the end of this round that she didn’t see a chance for embarrassment, she saw an opportunity for herself and the women’s game to be noticeable and seized it, and the crowed loved it.
The All-Star game featured some of the sport’s biggest name such as, Lebron James, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jason Tatum and more. This year’s All-Star Game also saw the return of the traditional East vs. West format. The final score broke a range of records.
If we wanted more competition, we got a game that was all offense, and it shows in the record final score of the game 211-186 (4) where the East won the game for the first time since 2014.
Notwithstanding the broken records and offensive masterclasses, many fans and commentators have criticized Sunday’s game for its seen as lack of competitiveness. With this said, this is an event where fans all around the word enjoy and always leave you anticipating for next year’s celebration.
One of the most important opportunities for sports marketing is the All-Star game. It is a great platform for the big brands to get their products in from for a massive captive audience. It is also an opportunity for the big brands to continue their marketing campaign using display advertisement on court, player jersey and interacting with fans during the game.
In contrast to the Superball weekend where each brand is trying to concentrate on their corporate marketing plan and compete with multi-million ad campaign, this week we saw the big brand teaming up for the benefits of community focusing on unity and family. Julia Cheney, cultural marketing lead at Google, which has a wide-reaching partnership with the NBA and WNBA said,
“It is something that we put a lot of emphasis and focus on.” (Marketing Brew). It is an opportunity for the big Brands to leverage their product and services to fans and potential customers.”
IT was a fun weekend. NBA fans, see you next year!