Australian National Basketball League Exec Dir Larry Kestelman "has set in motion a rebranding of everything about the NBL, except for the name itself, and beyond that he wants to change the league's commercial image" among TV broadcasters and potential sponsors, according to Roy Ward of THE AGE. Kestelman has the NBL board, NBL officials, LK Group staff, creative agency Publicis Mojo and website provider Fox Sports Pulse "all assigned to roles in the rebrand which he says is essential to the league returning to any sort of prominence in Australian sport and winning back lost supporters." NBL officials "are also talking with potential broadcasters for the next season which begins in October and Kestelman says this is where the rebranding is vital." Kestelman:
"The difficulty is making sure people see the value and what the new NBL will look like. There has been a lot of bridges burnt in the way the league has behaved itself over the last decade and that has made everyone very skeptical that the league can't be trusted to present a premium product for television. Rightly so -- all the broadcasters are cautious, if that's the right word." He added, "They need to see us behave in a way befitting a television, entertainment sport. They need to see a quality product week in, week out." The NBL "will have a new logo next season, vastly improved website and revived marketing message." Kestelman:
"I'm envisaging the NBL website and the way the NBL looks to be completely different. It's not a slight touch-up but a complete re-look at the way the whole brand behaves and represents itself." Kestelman said he believed "the most important thing was for all televised NBL games to be produced at a high standard so to make the game attractive to commercial partners." Kestelman:
"I'm hoping in the next few weeks that I'll be able to talk about it with more definitively. We have something like 120 games and to broadcast them at a quality level then we are talking about an investment of circa A$5 million ($3.7M)" (THE AGE, 7/28).
