With NBA All-Star Weekend tipping off tonight in Los Angeles and college basketball’s March Madness around the corner, the next few days offer a unique opportunity to connect universities and their powerful hoops alumni. WHAT IF you leveraged your professional All-Stars throughout the season — but especially around these event moments – to tell your program’s brand narrative? With all eyes on your superstars at these moments, you’d be able to continue to build association with them while using the elevated platform to promote your program. Kentucky leads the way this year with four NBA All-Stars (Davis, Cousins, Towns, Wall) while Connecticut (Drummond, Walker), Florida (Beal, Horford), Texas (Aldridge, Durant) and UCLA (Love, Westbrook) boast alum duos. With the depth of college basketball talent and European influence on the pro game, it’s rare to have a multitude of All-Stars from one school, so why not promote this? Local schools UCLA and USC (DeRozan) have an even larger opportunity as “host” universities to activate around this moment. Beyond social media and editorial activations, WHAT IF universities in the city of an All-Star Weekend hosted on the ground programs to support their alumni while showcasing their unique program brand story? This idea can be replicated across any sport for any All-Star event.
