Image of current NBPA logo from future150.com
There is widespread labor accord across the major pro sports leagues right now, but there is far from (if there ever truly is) labor peace. And with the growing reach of social media, and its ability to influence visible public opinion and media coverage, the voice of player unions is growing louder. The NBA Player’s Association (NBPA) has been as vocal as ever since Michelle Roberts took the helm; and the group is now spearheading a campaign with digital and social roots to endear and educate NBA fans by inviting them to help design the new NBPA logo, with the winning design (voted on by fans and NBA players) getting a grand prize, including a trip for two the 2015 NBA All-Star Game.
While there is a press release on the NBPA website, the contest, itself, lives on the site of NBPA’s partner, Sports Blog, a community of sports blogs penned by writers, fans, and pro athletes. While the other player unions have engaged with fans and put out a lot of content that highlight its players, particularly when they sign major deals or make community appearances, this is the first major attempt at engaging fans in a contest. With no clear direct revenue goals, the objectives for the NBPA are to win over fans, raise awareness, and, ultimately, increase the reach of their content and messaging moving forward. Credit the NBPA for being proactive; there is a lot to like about the campaign and much that can be improved.
Here are the hits and misses, from a social and digital execution perspective:
Swish → Most of the time, fans are only aware of player unions when there is a collective bargaining agreement to be negotiated or league decision to appeal, but reaching out to NBA fans with a chance to be a part of visualizing their brand compels fans to learn more about what the NBPA does in order to create a logo reflecting such values.
Brick → Enticing fans to learn about the NBPA is a great objective, but they don’t exactly make it easy. Fans can use Google and Wikipedia and browse the NBPA website, but teams and brands and organizations need to always think how they can make things as easy and frictionless as possible, especially for fans looking to enter a contest. Something, like providing a text-enhanced infographic or one-sheet PDF or YouTube video, etc., with info about the NBPA would not only present fans with share-able content, but give the NBPA a chance to state the brand and facts they want fans to know.
Swish → Any time fans feel a sense of personal investment, it’s a good thing. In this contest, fans not only get to feel influential by submitting and voting on designs, but also can be excited for the notion of having a fan-designed logo live on all NBPA materials and knowing actual players reviewed their design. The NBPA, meanwhile, gets to ultimately present the final designs (fan vote notwithstanding), so they maintain some semblance of control, while still allowing for fan contribution. Any little way fans can feel connected to a product, a logo, a decision, it further induces a sense of affinity and emotion from fans engaging with your organization.
Brick → The NBA is a worldwide fan base and has a lot of young fans that are among the most active and engaged on social and digital. Yet, this contest is open only to those 18 and-over and in the U.S. (not even Canada, where the Toronto Raptors play!). While legal concerns make this a bit difficult, neglecting to reach a ton of potential participants and fans is a miss for this contest.
Swish → The NBPA knows what they lack–and that’s the ability, currently, to reach a huge mass of NBA fans. Partnering with a site like Sports Blogs allows them access to vocal and influential (especially on social and digital) fans, bloggers, and others. This is far better than trying to go it alone and throwing a lot of money at ads promoting awareness of the contest.
Brick → While fans will be able to visit the site to vote, there is little to no social component at this time. The voting site will likely having social sharing plug-ins, but by not utilizing a hashtag (fear of hashtag abuse taken into account) or other component of social media submission, they’re not only adding to the friction of entry, but missing out on the virality, sharing, and increased awareness offered through social media. The NBPA is keeping all of the logo submissions on its microsite instead of having NBPA logos plastered all over Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Sure, there would be some snarky entries, but those would drive awareness of the contest even more, too.
At the end of the day, the winning logo likely won’t be a complete re-imagining (especially when viewing their current, relatively bland logo) and will probably be the work of a (practiced) amateur or professional designer.
The execution for the “unveiling” of the new logo at the All-Star game will also be key to getting fans excited and anticipating it, as well as what the NBPA ultimately does with all the attention to keep the conversation, and affinity building, with fans going.
Will the NBPA have its own player blog featured on The Sports Blog? Will the NBPA begin producing more fan-friendly content and become more of an active, social media machine? This logo design contest is merely the opening tip. There are countless more plays to execute for the NBPA to win over fans in the end.