An NBA makeover, bless you, ESPN

An NBA makeover,
bless you, ESPN

In for a good whack with image-adjustment stick

By Toni Fitzgerald

   The NBA debuted on ESPN this week for the first time in 18 years. For a league looking for a post-Jordan identity, maybe it’s a good time for fresh starts.
   Michael Jordan will soon retire for a third time. Marquee draws such as Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone are either gone or past their prime. Young guns such as Allen Iverson and Jason Williams are in danger of becoming better known for their criminal court woes than their basketball court prowess.
   Is it time for a marketing shakeup for sports’ glamour league? If so, they’ve come to the right place.
   Enter ESPN. The slick sporting network knows how to appeal to young viewers – it was the third-rated primetime network among 18-49s during the third quarter and tops in October.
   The network that already carries pro baseball, football and hockey thinks it can lure even more viewers to the pro basketball audience. After all, this is a marketing team that made Lee Corso hip.
   “We think it’s a natural fit for not only the fans we already do have, but the ones we hope to gain,” says ESPN director of advertising and program marketing Spence Kramer. “A younger, more urban audience – that would be the armchair research. You look at the kids in school and certain videos on MTV, and there’s a lot of NBA looks and jerseys.
   “You get that kind of NBA vibe among the 15 to 24 demo.”
   Kramer says that older fans may be tuning out as sports become politicized. Salary demands, work stoppages and the like have taken their toll on pro audiences. Ratings for last year’s NBA finals were down, and older fans nostalgic for the Larry Birds or Magic Johnsons are turning elsewhere.
   Building a new image takes work. Luckily, the folks at ESPN have experience in that area.
   For its promotions announcing the new “home” of the NBA, ESPN took the home concept literally. A print campaign shows network broadcaster Mike Tirico comfortably ensconced in a bunk bed while 7-foot-5 rookie Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets dangles his legs miserably over the upper bunk’s edge.
   A TV commercial features anchor Dan Patrick banging on a door, waiting for Orlando Magic star Tracy McGrady to take his turn in the “house” bathroom.
   When the door opens and Patrick turns away to chastise McGrady for taking too long, Minnesota Timberwolf Wally Szczerbiak sneaks into the bathroom ahead of him. A perturbed Patrick informs late arrival/NBA commissioner David Stern that “there’s a line” as he grips his toothbrush.
    “I’ve done 150 commercials here, and that’s the one that’s had the most talk value,” Kramer says. “The commissioner did a nice job. It’s so right for the tone of what we’re trying to say.”
And that is that the NBA can still be cool. While the league concentrates much of its promotion on individual players, ESPN plans to highlight the team aspect as much as possible.
   A sound strategy since three of its top draws (Jordan, Toronto Raptor Vince Carter and the Magic’s Grant Hill) were injured last season and many of its players have yet to draw a fan base in an era of early draft declarations.
   Much of the recent publicity around the league has been negative. The Rick Fox-Doug Christie brawl during a preseason game, Iverson’s offseason arrest, former star Jayson Williams’ murder charge, a pro-laden team’s three losses at the World Championships.
    But new technology and younger appeal can help elevate ratings. Last year on TNT regular-season ratings increased by 10 percent, in part due to the Jordan inflation factor, after a drop in 2000-2001.
ESPN, which introduced the yellow virtual first-down line in football and K-zone tracker in baseball, debuted two new innovations last night. The floor cam shows the view from the baseboards a few feet from the basket. The free-flight camera hovers above the court.
   Young viewers like gimmicks, and those are good ones.
   “In general, we take sports seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously,” Kramer says.
   That should help the NBA find its identity. With younger and younger players becoming the superstars of tomorrow (McGrady is just 23, Kobe Bryant 24), ESPN may provide a good fit.
   “The reason for anyone to want to see entertainment is not simply the sports, the racing or the golf or basketball,” Kramer says. “It’s part of an evening worth of entertainment, and we’re adding our voice.”

-Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.

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