Yesterday I received two emails (they both were addressed in a personal style to me, Alessandro), one from the NBA and one from the Los Angeles Lakers, alerting me of the option to buy tickets before the general public: for a next Sunday’s exhibition game? No sir, for the 2010 Dallas NBA All Star Game, that will take place on the 14th of February 2010.

The 14th of February 2010…. and it’s the 22nd of July 2009 today.
Analysing this simple communication email gives us a golden opportunity to look into different strategic aspects that lie behind it.

2010 NBA All Star Game - Dallas

Specific to the event

• Time sensitive element is added to the offer, so pushing fans to buy the ticket with huge advance.
• Kick starting the NBA 2010 All Star tickets campaign with the first of several initiatives, with the objective of a sell out by the time February comes.

More general takeaways

• Personal, one to one relationship: Hello Alessandro, and not Hello World…
• Added value to newsletters’ subscribers: they can buy tickets for one of the events of the year BEFORE the general public. This, and with it many other similar opportunities, are a strong incentive for the fan to register to the NBA or the single teams’ websites and subscribe to different services for free.
• Data collection: this added value for the fan via the registration gives a tenfold bigger added value to the Organisation, that has the opportunity to collect data about fans, and by doing so enhancing the accuracy of audience profiling and its targeting capability, that will translate into more accurate and customised offers for the single fan.

This is just an example, a very valuable peek into the online strategy of one of the biggest Sport Leagues in the world.
We will look into what many other Organisations do too: stay tuned.

Alessandro De Zanche