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Here's an interesting little off-the-court related tid-bit for you: the NBA's recently announced marketing deal with Diageo (which owns drink brands such as Crown Royal and Ciroc) will cross over to the D-League as well, as forthcoming marketing initiatives will be prevalent in the minor league. For more on this partnership, read on below:
The drinks business Diageo and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have joined under a multiyear marketing partnership that will make Diageo exclusive partner of the league.
Diageo brands Ciroc® and Crown Royal® will be integrated into marketing initiatives across the NBA and NBA Development League (NBA D-League), with Diageo conducting activities under the Baileys brand with the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Through this partnership, Diageo, Crown Royal and Ciroc will have a significant presence during NBA national game telecasts on ABC, ESPN and TNT, as well as NBA TV and NBA.com. Diageo will also release NBA-themed television advertising, packaging and point-of-sale materials at retail.
Both Ciroc and Crown Royal will work closely with the league to create new programming to remind fans to drink responsibly.
It's worth noting that regardless of which arena you happen to enter over the course of a D-League season, respective marketing initiatives and the opportunity to partner with the more local companies of each respective venue continues to be an important one for the individual teams. It'll be interesting to see how such a national marketing campaign is incorporated as well.