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Stephen A. Smith: Jaylen Brown's attitude hurting his reputation and marketability
According to a source who messaged Stephen A. Smith during a recent episode of ESPN’s “First Take,” Brown has an offputting attitude. His ‘I’m better than you’ demeanor hurts his reputation around the league and his marketability off the floor. “I wanted to read to y’all what an NBA source just sent me,” Smith said. “He said, ‘Jaylen Brown. It’s not so much that he’s underrated. It’s that he just not liked because of his ‘I am better than you attitude.’ He knows it. It’s the same reason he is not as marketable as he should be.’ That’s what an NBA source just sent me.”
Chris Fedor: Word is #Cavs are sticking with the “Let Em Know” slogan this season. They kicked around others, including “Unfinished Business.” But the belief is “Let Em Know” still works from the standpoint of “Let Em Know” we are for real. “Let Em Know” last year wasn’t a fluke. Etc. Etc.
The marketing team also found ways to capitalize on non-jersey player merchandise. Once “Beef Stew” became the colloquial nickname for Stewart, the Pistons partnered with America’s Test Kitchen to film an episode with chef (and Detroit native) Elle Simone Scott made beef stew with Stewart and Rick Mahorn. “I definitely think undoubtedly the on-court product is always going to impact the business,” Kirkham said. “All the recognizable names it’s going to drive. However, we take pride in manufacturing moments and building our player’s brands, even if they may not be as well-known. Take Isaiah Stewart, for example. We leaned in and fans nicknamed him 'Beef Stew.' We create product, we create some really cool content in partnership with America’s Test Kitchen, and that ends up being one of our best-sellers in e-commerce throughout the year.”
Both Zavodsky and Kirkham are newer additions to the business side of the organization. Zavodsky was hired last June, and Kirkham joined the Pistons last August. They’ve seen the team change almost completely within their short time with the franchise. They’re excited to see what will come next. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t exciting,” Zavodsky said. “Troy’s given us a great story to tell. He’s assembling a great unit of players who are also good people, I think that’s an important piece and why the fanbase has gravitated around them. And I think it’s our job on the business side of the house to not only tell that story, but give people other reasons to like the brand and gravitate towards it.”
Anthony Puccio: The Brooklyn Nets have named Motorola as their official jersey patch partner. pic.twitter.com/3yShaaTOoj
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Diamond Leung: Nets CEO in naming Motorola the team's new jersey patch partner: "Both of our companies have been through a reinvention in the past year; Motorola with the rebirth of the iconic razr, and our team, which now features a roster that has redefined expectations for the Nets."
Luka doesn’t show a lot of his personality in media interviews – and he may get there, he’s very young – but what is he like? As someone who gets to interact with him behind the scenes, what are your impressions of him as a person? Mark Cuban: He’s a lot more street-savvy than people give him credit for. He’s a lot smarter than people give him credit for. He’s very business-oriented. He understands markets and marketing very, very well. He understands his brand and his brand’s positioning very, very well. He’s really smart when it comes to business. He obviously doesn’t have an MBA, but he’s a lot smarter at business than a lot of MBAs I know. And on the court, actually, what we saw from Luka was how hard he worked over the summer and it paid off on the court. That’s who he is. And that’s the most exciting part about Luka: not just his talent, but how hard he works to improve his talent.
NBA honors Spurs with the 'New Sales Campaign of the Year Award'. The NBA recognized outstanding achievement in team marketing and business operations yesterday when it presented the NBA Team Partnership Awards and the NBA Ticket Sales & Service Awards for the 2018-19 season during its Revenue & Analytics Workshop in Las Vegas.
The National Basketball Assn. has poached Kate Jhaveri — most recently chief marketing officer at Amazon’s Twitch who also has worked at Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft– as its new CMO. Jhaveri starts at the NBA on Aug. 15, reporting to NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Mark Tatum. She replaces Pam El, who retired at the league’s chief marketing officer at the end of 2018.
When I ask Kerr, in retrospect, if Dennis might have been something of a trailblazer, he pauses. “Once I got to know him, I realized that a lot of it was just shocking people,” says Kerr, one of a handful of teammates who kept in touch with Rodman. “I think Madonna taught him a lot about marketing and the value of shock. It was not only good for his brand but he just liked to stir it up. Whether that made people more comfortable with transgender issues, I don’t know. I don’t think so. I would say no. I think the key moment is Caitlyn Jenner for the transgender world.” Kerr pauses. “I think Dennis was just being Dennis.”
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The NBA champion Golden State Warriors are losing one of their top executives. Chief Marketing Officer Chip Bowers is joining baseball’s Miami Marlins as president of business operations, reporting to part-owner and Chief Executive Officer Derek Jeter, according to people familiar with the personnel move. The people requested anonymity because the move hasn’t been announced. It is Jeter’s second executive hire since taking the reins in September. Earlier this year he also added David Oxfeld from Jeter’s longtime agency, Excel Sports Management, where he worked on client sales and business development.
Mark Medina: Warriors announced they won a league-high five awards at the 2018 NBA Sales and Marketing meeting. The categories: 10,000+ Full Season Tickets Award, 85%+ Service Representative Satisfaction Award, Category Performance Award, Account Performance Award, Account Growth Award
Jonathan Feigen: Chatted w James Harden about Diana Day, who has done great work with his marketing, taking over as his agent. Said she's taking those steps.
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