“SLICE” AND “POINT” SETS - FIBA.com

sport marketing and management
by William Sutton
William Sutton is one of the highest experts
of Sports Marketing of the United
States of America. He was vice president
of the NBA Team Marketing. He's professor
at the Central Florida University, De
Vos Sport Business Program, but also
founder and president of the Bill Sutton
& Associates, consulting company for
NBA, NFL, and Australia and New Zealand's
rugby leagues. He is co-author of
the books "Sport Marketing" (third edition,
2007) and "Sport Promotion and
Sales Managament" (second edition,
2008), both edited by Human Kinetics.
In the on-going search for new revenue
page 36 | 34 2008 | Fiba Assist Magazine
The Phoenix
Suns Virtual
Locker Room
streams, I am always looking for ideas
that can be easily replicated, expanded
upon and most of all that work for the parties
concerned. In touring the Phoenix
Suns’ Virtual Locker Room [www.nba.
com/suns/fans/locker-room-open.html], I
have found that next big idea product
placement in a non-intrusive and entertaining
setting. According to Jeramie
McPeek of the Suns office, “We wanted
to give fans a behind-the-scenes look into
the Suns’ locker room, but do it in a unique
and entertaining way. There are a handful
of sports teams that have offered virtual
tours on their web sites over the years,
but they’re basically all just still photos,
as fans click from room to room. We
wanted to let fans interact with the environment
and see our players and personalities
in a different light.”
Upon entering (through a bank vault
which could be branded by a bank sponsor
like the Suns’ Bank of America), visitors
were greeted by the Sun, Shaq, who
welcomes the visitors to his crib. Clicking
a door marked COACHES, we entered the
office of the former coach Coach Mike
D’Antoni who was sitting at his desk.
Coach D’Antoni greets us and goes back
to writing on his pad leaving us free to explore
his office. We can click on "hot
spots" such as a TV screen, key ring or his