“As the Innovation partner of the NBA, AT&T is able to test and showcase new and never-before-seen connectivity experiences across the entire NBA portfolio for the NBA’s passionate fan base of over 74 million young, tech-savvy individuals,” said Sabina Ahmed, AT&T’s assistant vp of sponsorships and experiential. “At all of our activations, we aim to showcase the full spectrum of NBA and WNBA culture—from jaw-dropping dunks and cutting-edge fashion to the latest music and impactful mentorship programs.”
Some of the activations will look vastly different for the WNBA, as last year, the brand brought the AT&T Style Studio to the WNBA All-Star Game and used robot nail art stands and augmented reality apparel mirrors to try on looks from the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale. But its NBA Dream Experience campaign in December—giving select fans access to All-Star events and meet-and-greets with NBA and WNBA stars—will continue throughout the season as AT&T markets turn fan data and feedback into on-the-ground experiences.
Rebounding with research
Google Pixel will spend All-Star Weekend treating fans to draft-pick photo shoots, using Google Lens to help fans identify iconic basketball items and letting fans use Pixel’s Magic Eraser to give them poster-quality dunks and stair-aided vertical leap similar to Team Pixel’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kelsey Plum and more.
Google Pixel has continued those activations through the WNBA All-Star Game, building its Google House experience and giving WNBA players a lounge where they could bring their agents and talk to brands. It’s all given Google valuable insight into which Pixel features fans seek out during events. They love Lens because it lets them shop athletes’ apparel and shoes as they’re wearing them, but research discovered that they adore the camera just as much.
“We are also talking to people who are engaging in basketball, not just as fans, but as athletes as parents of athletes, and they want to take the best photos and they want to take the best videos,” Cheney said. “So we’ve done the research to show what features that we have in those categories that are going to help create the best experience for the consumers.”
By attracting one of the league’s broadest audiences of the season, NBA All-Star Weekend presents an ideal opportunity for market research. Mulcahy noted that sponsors that launch products and campaigns around All-Star events see them draw not only core basketball fans, but viewers interested in players’ off-court lives, the music they listen to, the technology they use and the items they wear.
“It’s very common for our partners to see the value across our entire business ecosystem, particularly because they know and understand our reach,” Mulcahy added. “So we have a unique position where—as our partners and brands are refining their campaigns—[we can] give them feedback across our survey landscape about what we’re hearing from our fans throughout the season, throughout the calendar year.”