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WNBA campaign aims to carry momentum from Rio

The WNBA will boost advertising and promotional efforts after its monthlong Olympic break, which interrupted a season that so far has brought the league some sorely needed momentum.

Previously the league has seen an attendance dip after the Olympics, so it will unveil new creative after Rio from its “Watch Me Work” campaign. A new 30-second spot featuring all 12 WNBA teams will debut this week on WNBA.com and on the league’s social media outlets. Its TV debut will come during ESPN2’s doubleheader WNBA coverage on Sunday.

Tina Charles and her U.S. teammates will resume their WNBA season on Friday.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
The Marketing Arm is the WNBA’s agency of record.

WNBA teams with players in Rio also are expected to host local activations celebrating the return of their Olympians.

“We’ve been active throughout the break but, make no mistake, any league that stops and pumps the brakes loses some of that momentum,” said Kristin Bernert, senior vice president for business and basketball operations for the New York Liberty, which counts Tina Charles on the Olympic roster. “The [Olympic] team will continue to gain momentum and there will be a real desire to show appreciation. Ticket sales are beginning to pick up after they slowed when the break started. We will dial up our advertising once the team is back in the market and hopefully pick up right where we left off.”

The new creative is part of an aggressive marketing strategy under new WNBA President Lisa Borders that so far is paying off.

On a to-date basis through July 22, when the WNBA hit its Olympic break, average attendance was up by 2.1 percent to 7,639 fans a game. The WNBA says its gate is up 2.8 percent on a game-by-game comparison to last season.

The Phoenix Mercury leads the WNBA in attendance, averaging 10,185 a game. The Dallas Wings, who relocated this year from Tulsa, are last in average attendance at 5,262.

Last year, the WNBA drew an average of 7,318 fans a game, the lowest in league history.

Television viewership this year on ESPN and ESPN2 is up 23 percent over nine games to date compared with 11 games to date last season. The number of monthly unique visitors to WNBA.com is up by 40 percent so far this year, according to the league.

“Our hope is to not only hold steady but accelerate even more,” Borders said of the improved business metrics. “The Olympics elevates our league because everyone [on Team USA] is a WNBA player. The league’s awareness is elevated every time they play.”

Rio marks the fifth Olympic break for the 20-year-old WNBA. In 2012, when the women’s U.S. team won the gold medal in London, WNBA attendance fell by 6.3 percent overall from 2011. This year, the league is hoping to avoid a similar fate while looking to capitalize on the heightened attention on women’s basketball given that every member of Team USA’s roster plays for the WNBA and seven of the 12 WNBA teams have players on the Olympic roster. The WNBA began its Olympic break July 23 and will restart play Friday.

Attendance fell for the league in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic years compared with the two respective prior seasons, but increased in 2008 after the U.S. women’s team won the gold medal in Beijing.

According to Borders, who joined the WNBA in February, the WNBA increasingly is using NBA assets to promote itself. The WNBA debuted its “Watch Me Work” campaign during a nationally televised Cavaliers-Spurs game on ABC on Jan. 30. It was the earliest the WNBA has launched a campaign, which subsequently ran during NBA games throughout the season. The “Watch Me Work” campaign was also more heavily incorporated throughout the NBA playoffs and Finals, which hasn’t always happened.

“We have been particularly committed to marketing the league in a more integrated way with the NBA,” Borders said.

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