As draft puts WNBA in spotlight, the NBA is speeding up ballplayers’ transition to creators.
Amelia Dabell, Digital Planning Director at Fuse comments:
Reducing the time spent creating social assets is important for marketers at teams and brands hoping to score points with big game moments, said Amelia Dabell, digital planning director at Fuse, a sports-focused Omnicom Media Group agency.
“We all know how quick social media cycles are,” she said. “To have a chance of being relevant, of people wanting to engage with it, [brands] needs to put out content as quickly as possible.”
Though social noise increases the league’s value to advertisers and sponsors, Dabell says access to the league’s media assets provides a significant direct benefit by cutting licensing costs; without NBA access, brands activating around the sport would need to license images from providers such as Getty. “That becomes a huge value point within contracts,” she explained.
It’s in the NBA’s interests for as many of its players to straddle the line between influencer and athlete, said Dabell.
“Every player is a brand in their own right now and the more they can grow their brand, the more it grows the prestige of their team and of the league.”