NBA apparel doubles as advertising in Australia
NBA apparel doubles as advertising in Australia
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The growth of the NBA in Australia
Australians are passionate about sport, and that passion has been increasingly extending to US sports such as the NBA - The ESPN total audience for the 2021-22 NBA season was up 40% year-on-year thanks largely to ESPN’s partnership with Kayo Sports.
Easy access to broadcast, and having stars such as Josh Giddey, Patty Mills and Ben Simmons competing play major roles in the growth of the league and the associated teams in Australia, but there is another overlooked channel that contributes to the NBA’s relevance in Australian society and overall growth…
NBA Apparel: When people wear NBA apparel around town, they’re acting like mobile billboards… and Australians love NBA apparel.
Australians are not only passionate about sport, they are avid followers of US streetwear and heavy buyers of NBA apparel. Walk around town during the Australian summer, and it won’t take long to spot someone wearing an NBA jersey or cap. These products aren’t purely worn by sports fans though. Given they’re inspired by hip hop artists, youth culture and street fashion they also appeal to the non-sport fan and those who have participated in the rise of the “Athleisure” trend in Australia.
The arrival and explosion of Lids in Australia is symbolic
Lids is the official license partner of the NBA and the largest hat retailer in the US - selling more than 30 million hats each year. In addition to hats, they offer an exclusive range of jerseys and apparel from teams and players across the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL.
Lids recently entered Australia in 2022 off the back of strong demand, and plans to hit the ground running - opening around 12 locations across Australia. Owner of Lids, Lawrence Berger explains that before opening in Australia, the associated sports leagues and teams urged them to bring their brand down under:
“They kept saying to us, you’ve got to go to Australia, it’s just a wonderful market. It’s a sports-crazy market…”
President of Lids, Britten Maughan also noted that:
“Australia loves Lids…” and that “…For years Australians have been coming to the US, shopping at our Lids stores, and asking us to please come to Australia.”
Lids also operates the NBA’s flagship stores and has recently opened stores in Melbourne and Sydney.
The popularity of NBA apparel in Australia not only delivers strong revenue, it doubles as advertising which contributes to the growth of the game. How?
In the book “Contagious: Why things catch on” the author Jonah Berger explains why certain products and behaviours catch on and spread, and many of these learnings can be applied to the growth (viewers, fans, merch sales etc) of NBA in Australia. The book outlines a framework of principles that are noted below and which explain 1) Why NBA jerseys are popular in Australia 2) How jerseys contribute to the growth of the game.
Why NBA jersey sales are popular in Australia
Awe: a high-arousal emotion that triggers action
Emotion is a key element contributing to things spreading, and emotions are certainly not foreign to sports and the NBA. According to Berger, an emotion such as “awe” is a “high-arousal” emotion that encourages people to take action. In the case of the NBA fan, those who feel a strong element of “awe” towards their favourite NBA team or player may feel compelled to purchase their jersey. Awe can be experienced for many different reasons and from looking at the most popular NBA jersey’s purchased in Australia in the first half of the 2021-22 season, it’s clear that some people feel awe towards various players for different reasons. For example, Australians who purchased a Patty Mills and Josh Giddey jersey may have been motivated by national pride, as opposed to those who purchase Steph Curry and LeBron James jerseys, who may have been motivated by the fact that they were arguably the 2 x best players in the league at that point in time.
“When we care we share”
…and a way of expressing our love and passion for your team and favourite player is to wear our jersey’s in public. When fans do this, they’re subconsciously partaking in what Berger describes as building “social currency”.
Australians like to affiliate themselves with NBA teams and players to create “social currency”
What we talk about, what we wear and how we act, impacts how people perceive us and how they think of us. The NBA is clearly an attractive brand to be affiliated with, and this is evident given so many people already wear NBA apparel, whether they’re a fan or not. Jonah Berger explains:
“Just as people use money to buy products or services, they use social currency to achieve desired positive impressions among their families, friends and colleagues.”
NBA apparel is where sport meets fashion
The NBA has been hugely successful in creating apparel that is trendy and acceptable to be worn as everyday wear, not just to the game or on the court. Naturally, people would rather look cool than geeky, good not bad - NBA merchandise enables both sports fans, and non-sports fans to curate their appearance in a way that allows them to be on the right side of people’s subconscious perceptions. When you wear an NBA jersey to signal that you’re an NBA fan of a particular team and player, it can potentially spark a new conversation and relationship, or help foster current ones.
How people wearing NBA apparel contributes to growth
The concept of top of mind
According to Berger, at any given moment, some thoughts are more top of mind, or more accessible than others. Some thoughts are chronically embedded and others are triggered by the surrounding environment. For example, fitness fanatics may have their personal health deeply embedded into their thought patterns. At other times, a stimulus from the surrounding environment may cause that same person to have new and different thoughts – e.g. they may be concentrating on the piece of work that they’re engaged in, the food they’re eating, the book they’re reading or the conversation they’re having.
Jersey’s also act like triggers, putting teams and players at the top of mind, and potentially enabling one of marketing’s most powerful tools: word of mouth
When people wear their jersey in public, they act as a “trigger” that prompts people to think about the associated team, player or anything else they associated with it e.g. the sponsor. This trigger can be caused by simply viewing someone walking down the street, and doesn’t require a direct engagement. Sometimes size matters - NBA jersey’s are particularly useful trigger tools – they catch your eye because they’re larger than a cap, and more prominently worn than other items such as socks and shorts. The more jersey’s people are exposed to, the more frequently they will be triggered. People often talk about what is at the top of their mind so the more frequently they’re triggered, the more the NBA will be talked about.
This concept works much like advertising, but it’s impact is more powerful
For example, when people drive past a giant branded OOH billboard, they will be triggered to think about the brand displayed. Although advertising like this is a powerful tool, its impact is limited in comparison to word of mouth marketing - According to Nielsen consumers trust earned media, such as recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising. By wearing a selected jersey, that person is advocating for the code, that particular team, player and/or clothing style, creating an earned media scenario that doesn’t require a large budget – it’s free.
NBA apparel is a product that advertises itself
Every time people wear their jersey they are displaying their fandom and passive approval for the game and clothing-style. Why is this important? Because humans have a natural inclination to imitate one another. How we act, what we wear, what we eat, and what we say impacts those around us. According to Berger, when people wear certain clothes and dress in a certain way, they make it more likely that their friends, co-workers, family, neighbours, etc. will see what they’re doing and copy it. The more public something is, the more likely people imitate it.
Imitation can therefore lead to increased NBA apparel sales, and the creation of a snowball effect
People imitate one another because others’ choices provide information – we assume that if other people are doing something, it must be good and when this happens a snowball effect can form… when people are exposed to others wearing NBA apparel, a trigger could be activated with the potential message that the person wearing the jersey 1) Is an NBA fan, and a fan that particular team and player 2) Likes to follow and watch the NBA 3) Likes the NBA jersey and is happy for it to form part of their everyday wear and identity. This slight and subtle message could then serve as a small piece of persuasion to the many on-lookers who may feel slightly more inclined to 1) Show greater interest in the NBA 2) Purchase an NBA jersey. After all, if so many of their peers have purchased a jersey and follow the NBA and think it’s great, then they will probably like it too! When this phenomenon occurs, it leads to greater jersey sales, more NBA broadcast viewers and an increase in stimuli that triggers the movement in the first place – more NBA jersey’s visible to the public.
The benefit to sponsors is MASSIVE
In 2016, the NBA’s jersey patch program was launched, allowing teams to place a precisely defined 2.6876” x 3.25” sponsor logo on the front of their jerseys. Although physically very small, this is a powerful marketing tool for brands as it provides them with a platform to spread not only their logo, but their association further with every jersey that’s purchased and worn. When people see an NBA jersey, they’re exposed to the brand and the association, which in itself can be more powerful than a standalone ad - Brands pay top-dollar for sponsorships and access to NBA IP so that they can associate themselves with the world’s tier-1 sports brands, and be on the receiving-end of a transfer in brand equity.
The NBA’s patch program has ended up being a major revenue driver, that can contribute to growth
For the 2021-22 season, the NBA’s jersey patch program was worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. This additional revenue stream can be funneled back into the growth of the game, and by growing the NBA’s popularity, more jersey’s will be sold, more people will tune into the broadcast, more sponsorship logo’s will be seen, and more revenue will be generated. THE CYCLE REPEATS.