The Objective:
With the 2020 NBA season finally set to resume in the Disney World Bubble our team was prepping by getting back into shape and trying to reclaim the chemistry that helped them to a #1 spot in the standings. Meanwhile, the business side was meeting with partners and figuring out how to reallocate millions of dollars in sold sponsorship assets for games that wouldn't be played at Fiserv Forum.
Alcohol partners were a particularly tricky group to appease, especially with no fans in the arena to buy their products, and we needed a way to leverage our virtual audience to provide extra exposure for them.
The Solution:
We knew wanted to use our social channels to showcase our alcohol partners, but we wanted to make sure to do it in a way that felt authentic to our brand and our fans.
I worked with our design team on a loose concept: a pregame recipe card that we could rotate brands through, showcasing a new brand and cocktail each game. I came up with the name, they ran with it, and we got a great new Bucks tradition that we felt our Wisconsin fans would love.
The Results:
The reaction from fans was great, with engagements around 33% higher than our typical pregame, non-player content.
The reaction from our partners was even better. Captain Morgan liked the concept so much they wanted sole entitlement of it for the 2020-2021 season and used it as an example of a best practice with their agency and other teams.
We also added an in-app concept to expand the audience reach and make the experience more interactive, which increased the overall dwell time on the Bucks app. The feature is still evolving, with custom, Bucks-themed cocktails in the works and anticipated retail promotion as a companion next season.