Well, if you are like me and don't speak Spanish, you wouldn't know that my title translates into "National Basketball Association Embraces Latino Following," that is, if my online translator is reliable.
As I was flipping through the channels a week or so ago something very strange caught my eye. I stopped at an NBA game. While watching the game I was baffled. The jerseys for the Dallas Mavericks said "Los Mavs." This was not normal so I asked a friend to be positive that I wasn't hallucinating.
It turns out my eyes weren't deceiving me. On February 24th, the NBA announced the launch of the third annual Noche Latina (Latin Night) event. This program recognizes players and fans from across Latin America and in Hispanic communities. This year, teams from eight out of the top 10 most populated communities will participate in Noche Latina. This is up from four from last year. The teams participating this year (in their Hispanic names) are Los Lakers, Los Mavs, Nueva York, El Heat, Los Suns, Los Spurs, Los Bulls, and Los Rockets. Instead of using the literal translation of the team names, market research decided to use the names previously stated because that is how a Spanish speaking NBA fan would say them.
So what's so special about Latinos you may ask? "The NBA has one of the largest and fastest-growing Hispanic fan bases in U.S. professional sports, and we want to continue building their interest in the game through participation, programming and events," said Saskia Sorrosa, "This initiative celebrates the NBA's unique and dynamic fan base with a focus on our Spanish-speaking communities."
Games played in the Hispanic jerseys are going on right now. They have been spread out from March 3- March 28th. There have been other activities for Noche Latina including Latin music at games and other special features and events.
I think that this is good PR for the NBA. It shows that it accepting of the support of other cultures, however, now I fully expect this for other communities that follow the NBA. There is a large following of the NBA in China. I would like to see a 我國晚 (China night) along with maybe a nuit française (French night) and some other cultures that have been in large support of the NBA or from a country that the NBA acquires players from like European countries.
I think promotions like these are very fun and interesting. I see that whoever came up with this idea must have used some of the same techniques we are using in class like targeting your audience. Also, the press release I read on this subject was well-writtten, using many of the skills we learned in class.
