(Phoenix Suns) Group Paper Assignment

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Sports Marketing Strategic Plan (Phoenix Suns) Sports Marketing [3480-01] Fall 2020 Kean University October 21, 2020 Devin Harris, Ryan Koppel, Justin Gerena, Ravi Jethva

Part 1: League/Team/College Overview and Situational Analysis Introductory Statement This Strategic Plan has been developed by Devin, Justin, Ryan, and Ravi in order to provide management with a variety of analyses and recommendations to enhance the entire Phoenix Suns brand not only in the NBA but also in the world. Although the organization has not been able to produce a successful product over the past decade, the Suns are now heading in the right direction and are poised for greater success. This plan is set to create brand new culture, player-wise, and facility-wise, reachable goals for more fan support, promotions, public relations, etc. The collaboration between the players and the front office will be the main catalyst in turning the franchise into not only a championship-bound team but a championship- culture in all aspects of the Phoenix Suns organization. Selected League and Product Overview A) Description of the Team/League The National Basketball Association (NBA) was established in 1949 and consisted of 17 teams throughout a select number of cities in the United States. Nineteen years after the birth of the basketball league, in 1968, the Phoenix Suns were founded and became a part of the NBA. In the beginning years of the team’s tenure, the team was successful and had many players with promising futures. As the years went on, the Suns were able to continue their good start by trading for key players, which led to the franchise being able to reach their first and only NBA Finals appearance in 1993. About a decade later, the team completely transformed due to coaching and player changes; that competitive bunch only lasted for a small amount of time. In

recent history, the organization’s expectations to get back to being beloved favorites to win a championship have not been close to what they would like them to be. With being in the capital of Arizona, a vibrant, lively, and warm weather environment, the Suns have been able to attract a good assortment of players and fans to the organization. Despite not having any good standing seasons within the last couple of years, they have been able to produce a variety of different things that lure consumers to the brand. The main product is the 15 players that play in the eighty-two game season every year, but all of the off-court activities and entertainment produce a great amount of revenue/awareness and are just as beneficial as the main product. Phoenix’s main product that they produce is its’ 15-man roster, but one of the players is the main reason for its growing popularity in recent years. Back on March 24, 2017, all-star Devin Booker scored 70 points in a single game, and ever since then, the Suns have drawn more and more attention to their team. Following the team is the off-court activities and entertainment. The organization produces the following: conventional membership ticket programs, luxury ticket programs, innovative partial programs, group nights, single game suites, and various other activities. B) Mission Statement of Team/League The mission statement for the NBA is to “Compete with intensity, lead with integrity, and inspire to play. The NBA does this by focusing on four elements of the game of basketball. These four elements include conducting in accordance with the highest standards of honesty, proper ethics, fair dealing, and having strong moral values and opinions. The Phoenix Suns do not officially have a mission statement because each team follows the mission statement of the NBA. However, on the court, the Suns have established themselves with one of the most exciting

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brands of basketball the league has ever seen. They do this by having a nucleus of great talent and an incredible front office. Now, off the court, their sales and service “culture” has been recognized for their commitment to developing professional athletes and their success for long and meaningful careers. They want their players to succeed as much as they want their team to win. The Phoenix Suns for years have been known as a model franchise for the rest of the teams. Even though the Suns aren't the best of teams in the NBA, they are valued based on their ethnic standards and player achievements. In other words, the Phoenix Suns’ mission statement is to set standards by which excellence is measured throughout the sports industry. C) Target Market The Suns’ main target market has been sports enthusiasts within Arizona who love basketball as well as around the nation. They remain one of the most successful and popular teams within the league. As such, their marketing and sales team has always targeted various stakeholders who have intentions of investing and supporting the goals of the team. The most sought-after target market by the team is fans. In order to be able to build a large fan base, the team has been known for its goal of “set the standard by which excellence is measured throughout the sports industry”. As such, the Suns have positioned themselves in this aspect by having a unique service culture within the sports industry. In order to optimize this target, the team has set up programs such as S.T.A.R.S. This program focuses on the sales culture, new business programs, as well as sales techniques that offer the most in terms of their revenue collection. In order for the team to meet its target market, it has a department of the sales staff. This staff makes 100s of cold sales calls daily, they also host personal in-center client tours as well as promoting the Phoenix Suns products by using any possible means (Horowitz, 2012). Moreover, the staff pride themselves in being able to meet the needs of the clients which at times

are specific while at the same time searching for avenues of increasing the value of the overall fan experience whenever they attend the games. Additionally, one of the means Phoenix Suns recently employed in segmenting, positioning, and targeting their market has been through bringing in players such as Devin Booker with the goal of making a total overhaul of the team’s presentation. Along with other star players, the team has been able to sell itself as a serious contender for the NBA Finals. These strides as well as informing the community on its long-term goals have enabled it to reposition itself and even attract more fans and other stakeholders. As such, the team has been able to target and segment various potential markets so as to see they are able to attain success off the court in terms of ticket sales, deal sponsorships, and merchandise sales which are critical in making the team successful in the long run. The other target market the team seeks to have in the short and long run, are the various sponsorship brands that want to be affiliated with the team. D.) SWOT Analysis Strengths ● Young all-star player, Devin Booker, is highly marketable ● A strong tradition of star players ● Ranked #11 in top NBA markets based on homes (SportsMediaWatch) ● Loyal fan base ● Lively destination Weakness ● Never won an NBA championship ● Are less accomplished than teams in their division such as the Lakers and Warriors ● Are Ranked behind the Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks, Warriors, and Rockets in the largest markets in the Western Conference (SportsMediaWatch) ● Currently in a playoff drought ● Do not own their own TV network

Opportunities ● Can market toward having a homegrown team with players drafted by the organization (Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton) ● Social media publicity ● PayPal sponsorship Threats ● NBA player movement ● Competitiveness of Western Conference (players, teams, brand recognition, etc.) In the NBA, having talent is the most important factor to gain fan attraction. That is what makes having a young All-Star like Devin Booker the key marketing strength of the Phoenix Suns. With more talent teams are more likely to be scheduled to play on national television. Also having one of the most popular players in Spain’s history, Ricky Rubio, is another strength that the Suns can use to bring in more international fans, which is important due to the NBA’s international relevance. Although the Suns’ key weakness is that they have never won an NBA championship, they have been able to stay relevant throughout league history by having multiple all-time great players through different eras such as Steve Nash, Charles Barkley, and Paul Westphal. Being able to stay relevant helps an organization retain fans while they continue to build their brand. Other weaknesses include the fact that they are less accomplished and in smaller markets than almost half of the Western Conference and are currently in a playoff drought. The Suns also do not own their own TV network that large market teams such as the Lakers and Knicks have. The key threat to the Suns’ marketability is the constant movement of NBA players to different organizations. Large markets such as Los Angeles and New York can afford to lose a star player, but if the Suns were to lose Devin Booker with a team that already has seen little success, it would be a detrimental blow to their marketability. Situational analysis

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A) Industry Analysis The Suns compete in the National Basketball League (NBA), which has become one of the most popular sports leagues in the world. The NBA is the world-renowned league that consists of the best basketball players in the world. Leagues like the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Chinese Basketball League (CBA) are the next closest competitors but are not nearly as competitive and talented as the NBA. In recent years, the NBA market has grown tremendously and has reached amazing heights that were thought to be met a few more years in the future. According to an article from Nielsen in 2018, “ the NBA is growing in popularity, with the number of fans in the U.S. up 4% year over year, the largest increase of any major professional sport---with more attention to the sport, the value of exposure sponsors received during NBA game broadcasts in the 2017-18 regular season reached new heights, topping the $1 billion mark . ” (Nielsen, 2018). Not only is the market growing in America, but also overseas. With about one-fourth of the league’s players being from countries and continents other than the United States, the NBA is able to reach people all over the world. For instance, Jeremy Lin and Yao Ming have influenced the entire country of China to play basketball and watch the NBA over the past 20 years. Especially with China being one of the most populated countries in the world, this was the best spot that the league could put itself in to grow its market. NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum expressed his thought on capitalizing on an opportunity like this by saying “when you look at China, India, and Africa, you’ve got about 60 percent of the world's population in those three places---so we're putting a lot of time and energy in how we become the No. 1 sport in those countries and those continents” (Kleen, 2019)

Now that the sport has grown in popularity on a worldwide scale, the Phoenix Suns are able to reach people of all ages across the globe. Also, with Devin Booker increasing his status in the league year by year, the Suns are slowly, but surely becoming more and more marketable. This leads the organization to new growth opportunities in many different fascists of the market; more sponsors, boost in brand equity, bigger fanbase, new partnerships, etc. B) PEST (political/legal, economic, social/cultural, technology) Even though the owner of the Suns is a republican (Robert Sarver), the Phoenix Suns have always been known as a very democratic team. For example, in 2010 they wore jerseys with the name “Los Suns” during their playoff run to “honor the Latino community and diversity of the team, the state of Arizona and the nation. They wore these jerseys as a political statement against Arizona's new anti-immigrant law that was put into place in 2010. Even this year, with everything that has been going on the Phoenix Suns, they have chosen to still be for the people and what they stand for. According to an article made about the Sun's racial demographics, their fans are estimated to be 49.7 percent white, 23.5 percent black, 20.7 percent Hispanic, and 6.1 percent Asian (Eric,2014) . Suns fans included the fifth-largest percentage of Hispanic fans in the NBA, only behind the Spurs, Lakers, Clippers, and Rockets(Eric,2014) . Even though it has been nearly a decade since the Suns have made the playoffs, they still find themselves with a very large team value. Economically, in February 2020, the team was valued to have $1.625 billion in revenue for the season. That was before COVID-19 completely stopped the league from continuing the season. Their economic breakdown can be separated into 4 different revenue streams. These revenue streams include sport, market, stadium, and brand. For sport, which is the franchise

value attributable to revenue shared among all teams was valued at $890 million for the 2020 season. The market, which is attributable to the city and market size was estimated at $368 million. The Suns’ stadium was estimated to receive around $236 million before there were no fans allowed to enter. Last, the Phoenix Suns brand as a team was estimated to receive $131 million. To sum it up, the Suns have always had a great fan base and team when it comes to revenue. However, when it comes to technology, they are behind and lacking. Besides the regular medical technology and physical therapy technology provided by the league, the suns aren't up to standard with their technology. Any team's main source of technology for its brand is the stadium that the team plays at. Any team with an advanced technological stadium will see a high increase in revenue and attendance for that stadium. The Talking Stick Resort Arena- Phoenix Suns stadium- has been around since 1992 and has a seating capacity of 18,422. They are currently renovating the stadium which will cost the franchise around $230 million dollars. The renovation is labeled as “Project 201: PHX Reimagined,” the 27-year-old venue, one of the oldest in the NBA that hasn’t been remodeled, will see an entire transformation. Among the upgrades, is a new video scoreboard centerpiece that’s six times larger than the current scoreboard. In partnership with Verizon, the team will also upgrade the building to 5G coverage and enhance suites as the Suns are hoping to improve the fan experience at the arena. This new technology will add a more modern or even futuristic view of what the Suns will be or what they can become. C) Competitive Analysis and Advantage Among the main competitors that the Suns’ face in the market is the New Jersey Nets. The Nets have been located in New Jersey since 1967. The team has had a long-standing history of not only one of the very successful basketball teams and franchises but has also won two

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championships. The marketing focus of the Nets has always had the overall aim of “to increase the market share and to offer superior customer service. While this team has struggled in terms of income due to having low game attendance, it still remains a competitor to the Suns due to its proximity to the location of the Suns. The nets seek to increase their market sales by using the marketing goal “to increase ticket sales by 5%, generate more ticket season holders, and to increase awareness”. In terms of positioning, the nets have also positioned themselves within the market with the aim of competing with their opponents for the market niche. They achieve this by hosting other big teams such as the Celtics, or the other big three teams in the NBA. In doing so, this team together with the other teams such as the LA Lakers is able to increase their sales, branding, and even target market by competing highly with the available sets of fans as well as other stakeholders involved in the NBA. Since the Suns have not enjoyed a clear advantage in the recent past in the NBA, they have sought to increase their advantage by working on the various areas they had been underachieving. As such, the Suns undertook a new approach by having a new marketing team and approach. With the new approach, the goal was to “instead of selling fans on the promise of success and hope next season, the Suns are running out a flashy campaign recounting the glories of yesteryears' '. The Suns did not also have gate revenue success in the past, yet they have recently worked on this and have been able to reposition themselves on the minds of their target markets. The Suns have undertaken this strategy to increase their advantage in the market by introducing new types of campaigns, promoting the legacies of their franchise as a whole, helping in the reestablishment of their core fan base, and lastly helping the current team and inspiring it to hope for success in the present and the future (Clark, 2011). The Suns have also been able to reassess

their place in the marketplace and raced towards increasing their target fans. The Suns are achieving this by going in different directions from their competitors such as the Nets and the Bulls in competing for the overall profitability in the market. The Suns also face massive competition from the other NBA teams in securing partnerships. There are various business partnerships as well as organizations that are affiliated with the NBA. Among the partnerships that the Suns compete with the other teams include TV partners, sports drinks makers, apparel manufacturers, electronic companies, and carmakers. The notable partners in which the Suns are trying to compete with other top-tier NBA teams are A & T Wireless, Kia Motors, Gatorade, and lastly, Taco Bell (Clark, 2011). These partners aim to leverage the global appeal of the NBA so as to boost their sales. As such, they partner with the very top NBA teams. As such, individual NBA teams are encouraged by the NBA into a building, managing as well as distributing their own content on the NBA platform. This ensures that each franchise owner is able to pick content that is able to uniquely reflect the cultures of their respective teams. The fans are served with the same information and as such, they are able to make their decision on the teams they are willing to support. Part 2: The Strategic Marketing Plan 1. New Target Audience Our main target audience that we must win over are the on-the-fence fans that are seen throughout the league. On-the-fence fans are fans that some may call “bandwagon” fans, but they are really just fans that are not making a decision on which team they want to follow yet. There

are a few ways that we can win over these, on-the-fence fans and build our fanbase. The first way is by making our games more accessible for our current fans, as well as fans that are still undecided. Most of the ticket revenue is not generated from the average fans buying single game tickets for our games. The real money comes from selling out suites to corporations for season- long packages, instead of a few games here and there. If we can make our games more accessible for bigger corporations who are on-the-fence, then our revenue will increase tremendously. The second way is to bring in endearing players for our fans. With the signing of Chris Paul in this 2020 season, we will see a significant increase with on-the-fence fans that usually follow a star player instead of following a team. Fans love teams, but they also love players ( Valley of the Suns ). The third and final way to win these over-the-fence fans is to let them be more inclusive with the teams and even front office, to a certain extent. By letting fans know that their opinion matters, it makes them feel included. When a fan feels like they are a part of the team that they watch it brings commitment and loyalty to the team, as well as the fan. Our goal is to continue to reach out to sport enthusiasts and investors to help build the team. With the investors we have made, the phoenix suns unveiled rendering and provided details surrounding the teams $230 million renovations for Talking Stick Resort Arena. The city of Phoenix will contribute and give $150 million for the renovations while the team will invest $80 million for the renovations. The team will also build a new practice facility which is expected to cost around $45-$50 million to complete. These new investments will bring bigger corporations into the arena and will also bring new fans. The new arena will be great for potential investors and larger corporations, but let's not make it where these on-the-fence fans will come see the new arena not just once, but regularly.

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I. New Campaign Theme The current marketing strategy used by the Phoenix Suns is one that both promotes the history of the franchise and attempts to bring the fans together. The slogan of this campaign is “We Are PHX” (short for Phoenix). Another key to this campaign is emphasizing how much the Suns’ franchise means to the state of Arizona. After launching this campaign, Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton spoke at a news conference where he said, “I can tell you, as a kid who grew up here in Phoenix, Arizona, in west Phoenix at 39th Avenue and Dunlap in the ’70s and early ’80s, how important this organization, this team was to us as families across Phoenix.” He acknowledges that there was a time where there was no professional football or baseball in the state of Arizona and the Phoenix Suns were all they had (Fincher). To top off this campaign they announced that they would induct Hall of Famer Steve Nash into their ring of Honor. The “We Are PHX” campaign was launched in 2015 long after Steve Nash had departed, and the Suns were in the middle of a playoff drought which they remain in today (Fincher). Although this campaign would be successful in galvanizing loyal fans who have been losing interest, to the fans of the rest of the league, it signifies a lack of excitement of where the franchise stands today and where it is going. To young fans who are vitally important to market to, the worst way to catch their attention is a lack of focus on the future. The new slogan for our campaign is “Heating Up” a phrase that signifies that the team is getting better and, on the rise, as well as a play on the team name, Suns. With the moves the team has made, such as the acquisition of future Hall of Famer, Chris Paul, signifies that the organization is serious about winning and the development of their young stars. This shift in focus from the

past to the future can hopefully attract more people to our fan base and get them excited about where the team is going rather than where the team has been. The NBA is a league driven by its stars rather than the organizations. Whereas at one time the Lakers, Celtics, and Knicks reigned as the iconic brands of the NBA while now LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry are larger brands themselves than the teams they play for. Having a star player is vitally important not only to team success but box office sales, television revenue, and merchandise sales as well. The Suns have a young all-star in Devin Booker who they have not put enough effort into marketing him as the franchise player. In order to maximize the benefits that these great players can bring, there has to be a strong emphasis on these key players who fans recognize first before the team. II. Marketing Strategies and Tactics Now, more than ever before, the internet has transitioned into being the new normal way of life for just about everything and how the world runs. The effect that the internet has placed on future generations has opened up a new world of opportunities, especially in the marketing and finance field of work. In the world of social media, platforms have the ability to catch the attention of people of any age and keep them up to date with the latest trends and news on any topic(s). With this being the case, using social media platforms is one of the most important parts of our marketing strategies and tactics; these platforms mainly include TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube. The three main platforms that we give most of our attention, time, and efforts to are TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. The surprising emergence of TikTok has led millions of people to flock to the app and take part in viral dances, “memes”, and relatable funny content. Having

such a platform to interact with mostly the younger generations has opened up the opportunity for instant growth for the brand. Next, Instagram has been the one platform that we keep up with the most, giving that users share pictures and videos of them supporting the Suns in every way possible. Although Twitter has the same functionality in a sense, Instagram allows us to keep a grid of pictures and videos of every moment the organization captures, all in a three-row three- column format. Lastly, Twitter is where we open the flood gates to long threads for discussions, debates, congratulations, etc. The amount of traction that gets picked up from this platform accounts for a substantial amount of the social media presence of the Suns. According to the board of the Phoenix Suns, “The Suns also run a social media series — nights where fans connected to the team through social media can come to the stadium and get discounted items, such as tickets and t-shirts, or even meet players or members of the board” (Cole, 2012). With the target audience being split into two different groups, “The Core Audience” - basketball enthusiasts, wealthy individuals/families, and out-of-towners & “ The Emerging Audience” - millennials, younger audience and Hispanics, certain social media platforms will be beneficial to each group of people in their own rights. Since the Suns’ televised games are mostly aired on Fox Sports Arizona, combining the TV and social media platforms are a stretch, but the small opportunities that are presented are just enough to get as much traction as possible to the team. Being that the Fox Sports Arizona channel is for local individuals, heavy advertisements on the six social media platforms will integrate Fox Sports Arizona into the posts, hoping for more engagement and viewers from the locals. From tweets about scavenger hunts with prizes on Twitter and Instagram to quizzes about the team for chances to win cars and other valuables on Facebook and the other platforms, using all of the platforms to bring as many people to the station will provide good solidarity in using those six to be combined into reaching

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certain social media goals for marketing the Suns. Although we will be combining the six platforms to gather both audiences, each variation of the audiences will be specifically targeted. When determining a logical budget for the media type(s) for the Suns, a range was developed due to the annual traffic the team has gotten over the past few years: this range for the budget has a floor of $300,000 and a ceiling of $400,000. Being that the organization is mainly focusing on the media type of social media, about 90% of the budget is used for the team’s use of social media platforms. Each platform gets the same budget to work with, with the exception of needing to go over the budget if the platform is rolling in more traffic than the others. The remaining 10% is put towards the TV media, radio, digital, etc. “Don’t Let the Sun Blind You, We’re Just Now Heating Up”. This advertisement will be the leading ad for all of the social media platforms that the Suns use. Starting with the Suns’ Twitter account, the ad will go onto the account’s cover photo, bannering it as the first thing that people see when they visit their page. For Instagram, the layout of the ad will be posted on the original timeline and via story weekly, with links attached to go to the Suns’ website for info on events, giveaways, etc. The same types of ad methods will go for the remaining four social media platforms. Many corporations could have fit in the new campaign that we are pushing, but the ideal corporation sponsorship that the Suns will benefit from is by partnering with Blaze Pizza. Blaze Pizza was founded in 2011 by the Wetzel family (Elise and Rick), Wetzel’s Pretzels founders, and is a California based chain that has gotten instant success since the day it launched its grand opening. The company has 300 locations in cities and towns all over the United States, with five

of the locations being in Arizona and two of them being in Phoenix. “Fast-Fire’d” Blaze Pizza is all about bringing the heat, which Arizona and certainly the Phoenix area is known for. The tying together of Blaze Pizza and the Suns forming a corporate sponsorship is like a match made in heaven for both brands. One is producing a product on the court that comes with a fresh and new-cultured style of basketball that’s beloved by young fans across the country, and the other is producing a product that is “full of heat” and mainly run by young employees across the country. The similarities of the state of both companies/organizations are perfect for one another to come together. As the Phoenix Suns are “heating up” and quickly becoming a highly- liked team around the world, Blaze Pizza is steadily becoming bigger and better by the year. Also, LeBron James owns a large stake in the company. LeBron promotes Blaze on a regular basis and always stops by to check in on the stores that he passes by while on the road, giving them national attention. A good amount of the basketball community has caught wind of Blaze Pizza because of the NBA’s biggest commodity in LeBron, therefore, the Suns getting them as a new corporate sponsor will start rolling right out of the gates. This will continue to be a great choice by both brands for many years to come, due to the consistent success that both of the two companies currently have. III. Ticket Marketing Sports marketing in general consists of focusing directly on the promotion of sporting events and teams, as well as integrating the brand into different products or services associated with it. The Phoenix Suns is a professional NBA licensed team; therefore, they have several different options on engaging their overall target audience. One of the most effective methods of

communication and advertisement for a sports team like the Phoenix Suns would be through social media outreach and public endorsements by the athletes. This method of marketing would focus specifically on the team's social media followers, which are already huge advocates of the Phoenix Suns. The team could use this opportunity to post different products associated with the Phoenix Suns overall brand, and have their athletes support the items on these social media platforms. This would create an instant connection between the consumer and team, therefore increasing overall sales of products or services relating to this team. Another method of marketing could be through advertisements at the home stadium, as well as commercials during live games. The people that attend Phoenix Suns games or watch them live are most likely direct fans of the team, therefore they would want to show their support by wearing their products. The Phoenix Suns operations team should use a professional marketing research consultant group to further analyze which form of communication would best connect with their overall customer base. The list should provide statistical information regarding the team's consumer spending habits, as well as any additional knowledge required to efficiently pursue the company's marketing initiative. Sales Promotions are seen as an opportunity to purchase products or services at a discounted price. The Phoenix Suns have several different potential promotional opportunities that can be effectively marketed to their customer base. One promotion they could use is a product bundle package. This could consist of a professional branded jersey, certified cap and other clothing items for a reasonable price. This would create excitement to the customer, and they would purchase this package thinking that it is at a discounted price. The bulk supply method always appears more appealing to the customer, therefore, can be marketed as a "limited time promotional package." Another potential promotion could be seasonal tickets at a

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discounted price compared to purchasing them every time. This can be marketed to super fans who attend every single game. This would be seen as a good buying opportunity to this specific customer base, therefore can be marketed as a far better deal than paying for each individual game. IV. Implementation and Measurement (Ravi) The estimated rollout period of our strategic marketing plan would be about three months. We will first research and analyze information through a professional marketing research firm. This would help us collect important statistical data on how to correctly develop and implement our marketing strategies. Next, we will decide which methods of communications to reach the consumer (in this case through social media and athlete endorsement product integration). Finally, we will work together with the creative and marketing team to find new promotional ideas that help connect the Phoenix Suns with their overall customer base. The initial media buying will be done towards the end of this entire process, because we want to ensure we are using the most efficient method possible. Media buying would include buying ad space on social media platforms like Instagram, and also through live games commercial space. The PR and Community Affairs unit should be utilized throughout this entire process. The overall purpose of marketing is to create a positive relationship with the consumer, therefore using public relations is a vital part of performing the overall marketing strategy. The PR and Community Affairs team can use social media platforms and other forms of communication to ask fans what they would like to see more of, therefore creating a bond between the brand and the customer. The information and knowledge from the PR department would help the marketing

team better understand who their target audience is, as well as developing the most effective marketing strategies. The plan will be measured and tracked through recording data such as attendance at games, website or social media visits and overall sales numbers of branded goods or services. This statistical information provides a good indication on if the marketing strategy is working. On the other hand, if the numbers remain the same or somehow decrease, that will represent a failure in terms of effective marketing. This is because an increase or decrease in numbers on any of these factors would most likely be associated with the overall performance of the marketing strategy. Work Cited

Fincher, Cody. “Suns New Marketing Campaign Rooted in Connection to Community.” Cronkite News - Arizona PBS , 30 Oct. 2015, cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2015/10/30/suns-new- marketing-campaign-rooted-in-connection-to-community/. Saar, Eric. “Phoenix Suns Fans: A Racial Demographic.” Valley of the Suns , FanSided, 3 May 2014, valleyofthesuns.com/2014/05/03/phoenix-suns-fans-racial-demographic/. Tuesday, Brendon Kleen |. “NBA Seeing Payoff from Investment Overseas.” Global Sport Matters , 19 Oct. 2020, globalsportmatters.com/business/2019/03/05/nba-realizing-the-power-of- new-markets-for-talent-and-revenue/. “The NBA's Growing Popularity Scores Wins for Sponsors.” Nielsen , 5 Sept. 2018, www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2018/the-nbas-growing-popularity-scores-wins-for- sponsors/. Horowitz, S. (2012). How jersey sponsorship can be an effective marketing tool. Journal of Brand Strategy , 1 (2), 180-184. Clark, K., (2011) “NBA Renews Major Ad Partnership Deals.” The Wall Street Journal: Online Edition . The Wall Street Journal. Web. Stratton, Adam. “The Phoenix Suns Need to Fully Convert on-the-Fence Fans...like Me.” Valley of the Suns , FanSided, 29 Sept. 2020, valleyofthesuns.com/2020/09/29/phoenix-suns-need- convert-fans/3/. Young, Jabari. “Phoenix Suns Unveil Renderings of $230 Million Talking Stick Resort Arena Renovation Project.” CNBC , CNBC, 22 Nov. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/11/21/phoenix-suns- unveil-renderings-of-230-million-arena-renovation-project.html.

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