June 2016 Luncheon

Join us at FedExForum on June 21 as Gustavo de Mello, SVP of Marketing Strategy, Planning, and Integration for the NBA speaks on “This Is Why We Play: Strategy, Execution, and Results.” We will also be installing the AAF Memphis 2016-2017 board.

"Repositioning a successful brand can sound, in principle, a contradictory task: why change it if it is not broken? If the task of NBA marketing is finding, creating, and engaging fans worldwide we cannot simply look at the present as a context for decision-making, we need also to look at the future. With that in mind – and scratching our heads towards achieving the very aggressive enterprise goals by 2025 – we forced ourselves to think bigger, think beyond our current success and towards what the NBA can be.

The data showed clearly that we were oversimplifying the NBA potential and we challenged the department to find an idea that could truly represent our reach, as a brand.

That we all like basketball is clear. That the NBA is experiencing a positive momentum is also visible. But positioning our brand as part of the fabric of people’s lives, and establishing even deeper roots as a cultural phenomenon required a different tone and a broader message.

 his Is Why We Play came as an answer to that challenge and has demonstrated the power of the NBA brand by adding layers and layers of reasons why our game is so powerful. The results have been proving us right, but there is more work to be done."

- Gustavo de Mello