NBA Best Practices: Indiana Pacers Read for Children

It's an opportunity for every team to connect better with the local community. And to do so in a way that builds the individual brands of your players and your team. But how can you do this in a way that works both in season and offseason?

The Indiana Pacers unveiled a program that is scheduled, leverages the full team, and gives back in a way that connects... Plus, they use digital to share this with the world.

Intrigued?

Hit the Pacers home page and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You'll see a tout for "Call a Pacer" where we'll turn our attention...

I'll zoom in to make it more clear:

Clicking in takes us here, to the announcement of how the Pacers will have their athletes as "featured readers" who will read a children's story for all to hear.

Interesting.

As they describe it, "Call-A-Pacer allows callers to listen to featured Pacers' players read part of a children's story... Fans can also visit their local library and receive an autographed photo of that week's featured player. It was created to encourage kids to read.

Love this inspiration.

But it isn't all the way there. How could this be better? First, I latched onto the word "part". I'd love to see that removed -- let's start with a complete children's story! Next, let's have the players involved in choosing the story. There's something connecting about hearing why you chose the one you did... And, most importantly, let's focus on the experience. Rather than ask fans to call a number to hear a reading, can we create an experience? I'd love to see this in two ways:

1. A physical experience where kids who have demonstrated they are reading can actually come to the library to listen to the story read, in person.
2. A digital experience in the form of a uStream session. Let fans tune in to watch the player read the story. Imagine the world where kids are climbing into bed and their hero reads them a story? Through technology, this can definitely happen. And it would bring the fan base (especially the youngest) a lot closer to the team.

In both cases, this is an illustration that there's value in face-to-face interaction... but I'm pumped to see this as a starting point!

Great inspiration here, for sure!!!

Come back Monday as we check out another best practice from the NBA. And as always, you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook (Digital Hoops Blast).

Thanks!

Andy