The NBA about a year ago "launched its Customer Data Strategy group," and right now, "growing the NBA's worldwide base of fans is all about the nuts and bolts of capturing customer data and unifying information that's been gathered over the years but remains siloed in disparate databases," according to Kate Kaye of AD AGE. The group "supports NBA merchandising, global partnerships and content operations," and "takes a cue from the NBA's Team Marketing and Business Operations division, referred to as TMBO or Teambo." One recent Customer Data Strategy initiative "involved finding people in the NBA database who have declared affinity for a specific team and sending them a Facebook ad encouraging them to like the team itself, in the hopes of facilitating more team-level data." Ultimately the idea is to "deliver more customized messages that might be player- or team-centric, and help create a holistic view of that fan that informs interactions at the team and league levels." NBA Senior VP Doris Daif was hired in May '16 to "lead the new group, following around 13 years in various CRM and digital-related roles at American Express." Daif has "recruited for the Customer Data Strategy group from the non-sports world, recently hiring data execs from the IT and management consulting industry and luxury retail space" (ADAGE.com, 4/5).
