A
s senior vice president of global partnerships for the NBA, Kerry Tatlock plays a key role in some of the most lucrative new deals signed by the league.
Kerry Tatlock
NBA,
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
Part of her job is to find ways to deepen the league’s partnerships, and that’s an effort that has brought some recent eye-opening activations. When the NBA last year signed its first timing deal, with watchmaker Tissot, the league got creative. It folded Tissot’s brand into a newly designed 24-second clock and into an integrated arena timekeeping system, both of which will debut for the 2016-17 season.
“We have never had a partner in the timing category, and we have really integrated them into our game in an authentic way,” Tatlock said.
Then there was the new, multicity Mountain Dew-branded 3-on-3 basketball competition that debuted this summer as part of the league’s sponsorship with Pepsi, as well as a deal with auto sponsor Kia that put the company’s logo on last season’s All-Star Game jerseys, an NBA first. The driving mission, Tatlock said, is to have “deeper connections with our brands.”
Tatlock also has a good perspective on the global nature of her job. She has worked for the NBA since 2006, and part of her tenure included a yearlong stint in 2012 working in the league’s London office. She also worked for the Women’s United Soccer Association and with SFX Sports before joining the NBA.
“With all of our partnerships [at the NBA], it is about the stories we can tell together,” Tatlock said.
— John Lombardo
