Hoops

No one knows the NBL has started

Yeah, my bad, I should have more carefully distinguished between the two. My comments are really about the Sixers efforts more than anything, so shouldn't have extrapolated that to what other clubs may or may not be doing.

Out of interest though, if a national marketing campaign was run for the NBL, would it be done by BA itself? I assume it would, but then we are back to square one, because the money isn't there for BA to do that at the moment. Hence it comes back to clubs targeting their local community to attract people to their games - which I think the Sixers are doing quite well right now.

Isaac, I agree with you, the approach needs to be to target people who are more likely to have an interest in basketball first.

Anon, apart from the fact that the NBL doesn't have the money for major FTA marketing campaigns, I just don't think its that effective. Most people just tune ads on tv out.

IMO, the people who are going to turn up to a game are those who play the game, have a family member who does, or have been invited to a game by someone who is already a fan. Most people need some kind of link to the game to invest enough time in it to understand the rules and get hooked.

IF the NBL can get some FTA coverage, then I think it would be worth some mass media promotion encouraging casual sports fans to tune in and give it a go. After all, its not a big time investment for a casual fan to sit down and watch a basketball game on FTA in their own lounge. But I don't think you get the same positive response rate if you're advertising to get them to buy a ticket and head out to a game they know nothing about. And unfortunately, unless they can get FTA coverage, that is what would be happening.

So I think the NBL is doing the right thing by targeting its base and shoring it up to get the league stable again in the short term. Major growth strategies are something the league can focus on once its got its house in order.

In the meantime, I think Sixers coverage here in Adelaide has been pretty decent, with regular coverage in The Advertiser, Adelaide Now (online paper), radio stations (ABC Adelaide, and KG and the Colonel), FTA news reports, 2 for 1 tickets for City to Bay Runners, the local Messenger paper, other websites. Most people would have seen or heard something about the Sixers in the last few weeks if they are remotely engaged in the world around them.

So frankly, I flat out reject the idea that the NBL is doing a poor job this season. On the contrary, I think the league might finally be taking the right steps to stability and future growth.

What "new product" is it? The guy who buys season tickets has every intention of following his club this year but is too lazy to look up some info. I don't understand why you wouldn't do that at the same time as you make your purchase.

To the person above who said they were a season ticket holder but didn't know the season had started, how exactly is it anyone elses fault that you didn't know the 6'ers played? That sort of information is readily available at the league website, or on this dicussion board, and if it's not, it would take you 5 minutes to find out. Make a phone call, use the internet, ask your son.
You want to blame the NBL management for not delivering the news to your doorstep but people like you who make no effort can't really blamw anyone but themselves.

Has the NBL Started?

The Dragons did the best job of marketing themselves in stadiums since the old SE Melbourne Magic. The Tigers do virtually nothing.

I agree with Paul, a cheap, simple and very effective way of maximising marketing spend.

^^^

Sounds like Heal with a commentary microphone in hand...