NBA Digital Disciple Series: 5 Learnings from the Denver Nuggets

30 teams. 7 weeks. 2 bloggers. 1 mission: to share our learnings of how NBA teams uniquely leverage digital tools to build fan community.

As students, or disciples of the game, we'll supply you with the doctrine - 5 takeaways per team plus one way to make that even better. Then, we'll wrap it up, pick a winner, and send you on your way.

Thus far, we've covered the NJ Nets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards,Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, LA Clippers, NY Knicks, New Orleans Hornets, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, OKC Thunder, Charlotte Bobcats, San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trailblazers, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, and Boston Celtics.

Are you having fun yet?

Let's take a look at the digital connections made by the Denver Nuggets (Link here)

1. Vote for the Play of the Year

This is something that all teams should do, as it combines the right elements: fan interaction around good and exciting parts of your team. As you can see here, the Nuggets post the top plays of the 2009-10 season and ask fans to vote for their favorite. It's pretty simple but a great way to tie your squad to performance.

Plus One: Where do I start? So many ways to go here. But this is how I'd start. Take this and add fan interaction. You're thinking fans are already interacting, right? They vote. Yes. But why not take that pattern and do two things: 1) elevate in real time the favorites (so make this a leaderboard rather than a list)... and 2) Ask for comments to describe the play. What makes it so amazing? Who doesn't want to talk smack about their favorite squad doing something incredible? The Nuggets have a platform to enable this, now.

2. Nuggets Media Coverage

This is a smart feature. The Nuggets aggregate stories from the press about their players and coaches into one list, shown below and linked here. The list delivers fans access to articles on their favorite player in one central location. Convenience = good!

Plus One: Let fans subscribe for their player of choice (or coach of choice) and show how many subscribed to each one. That way I could get an email (or text) alert every time a new story on the Birdman posted, for example. It builds micro fan groups around each player -- enabling another platform for the Nuggets to leverage. (Why not find a way to launch Player Q&A sessions to those fan groups, for example?)

3. The Nuggets TV YouTube Channel

So many sites are focused on housing their own video content. The Nuggets deliver a different approach, posting their videos onto the Nuggets TV YouTube channel, here. I like this a bunch as it makes these very easy to share, comment on, and subscribe to.

Plus One: The Nuggets could take these YouTube videos and embed them into their main site -- thus allowing them to use YouTube as a spot to launch content while not forgetting about the fan who goes straight into their Official site.

4. The Charity Report

Teams put a big emphasis on having a positive impact on their local community. And it's a tough one, as there are so many wonderful causes and not enough arms and legs to get after all of them. So when I came across the official Nuggets charity report posted online (a 28 page summary linked here), I was impressed. It is a bold move to let the world know what you are doing and the choices you've made.

Plus One: I think we are in a spot where fans want to help out their team. Doing that brings them closer, more tightly connected together. And that means we are nearing the end of the days where teams say "This is what we did", but rather "This is what we need to do together." And I see this as a great way to accomplish greatness. Bring opportunities for fans to work side by side with their team in the community.

5. Request Rocky

The mascot. Go to a game and see that not much makes a young kid happier than watching the mascot. And I'm betting not much makes a dad more proud than having his kid happy to go to the game. So why not build excitement for the team away from the venue - to make kids more excited about coming to the venue, right? Click here.

Plus One: Recaps. We should have a gallery of images and testimonials about what Rocky did this week. And when he isn't doing an official gig, have opportunities for kids to find him in the community and win a tee shirt (or sticker pack or game tickets). I'd say "Hunt for Rocky" but that might get interpreted the wrong way. Trader Joe's makes kids hyped in the grocery store to hunt for the stuffed animals and win a sucker or balloon. Why not do the same with Rocky?

That's a wrap, but this journey isn't done yet! Follow along with us on Twitter. He's@peter_r_casey. And I'm @pawlow34. Tune in tomorrow as Peter Robert Casey profiles the Boston Celtics (here).

Andy

Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Marketing: What We Can Learn from #5 Rhode Island

There's something (or things) that every program does a fantastic job of that we can learn from. In anything you do, if you can find the good in what someone does and do more of that and then avoid what you find to be less effective, you'll end up in a better place.

Thus far our journey through the Atlantic 10 has shown us #14 St Joseph's, #13 La Salle, #12 Saint Louis, #11 Fordham, #10 U Mass, #9 Temple, #8 Duquesne, #7 St Bonaventure, and #6 Richmond.

Let's keep moving.

#5 Rhode Island

What the program is known for? I was taken with the Rhode Island school motto: "Think big. We do." That's fitting for the 8th seeded URI upset of Kansas back in the 1998 NCAA Tourney en route to an Elite 8 appearance (and a bucket away from the Final 4!). Rhode Island has made it to the tourney 8 times.

Why are they 5th? There's some good pieces here, and they are given to you in the right places - much like a nice point guard who distributes the ball to his big at the right point on the court... but there's a gap in real time updates and insight that keep the Dukes from crashing the upper half of the A-10 marketing.

What inspired me about Rhode Island? (link here)



1. Nice Bold Social Media Icons and Copy

The image above hits you front and center on the home page. It's super clear they want it to be easy to connect with URI, and when you click in (shown below), it stays simple and easy. What do you want me to do? Read our blogs, become a fan, follow us, and subscribe to our videos. That's simple, and action oriented. And this style just works. Nicely done!



2. Swiss Beats Covers the Running Rams through a deep blog


I liked this a lot. If you click on the image above (or here), you'll be taken to the Swiss Beats, an in-season blog pulled together by Go Rhody.com's Matt Swiss.



I'm including a sample of the posts below, to show the level of access and insight this blog gets into.

"I think it was just pressuring the ball," sophomore forward Orion Outerbridge added. "Coach always tells us that no other team has been pressured the way that we pressure. We try to stay with our man, try to make them make the bad passes, try to get some deflections and that just leads to turnovers and fast break points for us."

The blog is authentic and has access - seeing posts after every game. How could it get even better?

1. They still lack the story beyond the game, which is where I think we could get crazy. What are they doing on the road? What do they eat in pre-game? What are the keys to the game?
   
2. Can we get this done via videos and photos? It can be as simple as a flip cam and a cell phone camera. It's not about quality as much as it is about access. And it's clear they have access!

This could become an experience people sign up for, expect, and congregate at on game days!

3. Be friends with Rhody the Ram

This is another simple one. I really like seeing schools have both an Athletics Facebook page and a Mascot Facebook page. You can see the result for yourself by clicking in here. The 915 fans get a chance to see the mascot engage with the athletics programs (and other Facebook pages) at Rhode Island.

So how could this get better?

Mascots aren't allowed to talk, in general. Whether you're at Disney World or at the NCAA Tourney, mascots go around and create havoc but they do it quietly. Which got me thinking... what if that creative energy and havoc could get translated into Facebook?

Would we see a macot razzing fans or student athletes? (Or refs?) Maybe. But we'd definitely see a large universe of pictures of the mascot with fans. Rhode Island hasn't yet maxed out this opportunity. But if they really think through the persona of the mascot, they could create some energy that is maybe a little controversial but definitely fun to be around and follow!

That's it for the week. Come back next week as we move through the top 4 marketing efforts in the A10: Charlotte, Dayton, GW, and Xavier. Who's it going to be?