NBA Looks Like NASCAR? Not.
Playoff fever is in the NBA air. Teams are battling for positions. Yet this year is a special year—not because of the play on the field, but the wearing of the corporate sponsored jerseys.
The 2016 NBA Draft, presented by State Farm, was held at the Barclays Center.
Many were worried that the corporate sponsors would take a NASCAR approach. The most stylish men on the planet are NBA stars, so I’m sure the sponsorships must always be as stylish as a logo can be on a uniform.
According to the NBA commission, the sponsorships could bring in a $100 million and that will be split between players and the teams—okay, forget about stylish. We are talking big money.
But in a surprising turn of events, Utah-based Qualtrics signed a 3-year deal and decided to promote its in-house charity, “5 for the Fight” (cancer research). The Sacramento Kings Blue Diamond and the Boston Celtics GE logos look rather respectable (GE is estimated at $7 million a year). Plus, soccer fans know that sponsor logos can actually make jerseys worth more and collectible. The 3-year deals that were signed (this is only a 3-year pilot program of the NBA) make the jerseys valuable if the teams change the sponsorship logo.
I have no problem with the sponsorships. It is a great way to brand an organization, and if you go to an NBA game, there are sponsorships and logos at every turn in every place you look. And Nike, Adidas and Under Armour have had logos on NBA players for a long time.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.