The Éne-bé-a (NBA) Wants You To Start Watching
19 October 2009, 8:00 PM. By Fidel Martinez
In an attempt to appeal to Hispanics, the NBA has launched a marketing campaign today titled “éne-bé-a”. Their desire to increase exposure with an untapped market is not a bad idea in itself, but it would help if they made a concerted effort to define who their target audience is. Their new website, for example, doesn’t particularly appeal to Latinos other than the fact that it’s entirely in Spanish.
While the press release doesn’t reveal much about what they actually plan to do, they do have this little nugget of a quote from journeyman player Eduardo Najera (quick anyone, where did Najera play in college?), currently with the New Jersey Nets:
“I think it’s only going to help for Hispanics to identify with players besides the Hispanic ones, and overall I think it’s going to be a great chance for them to feel included in the NBA. I’m happy about that.”
Great, so we know Najera is on board. But still, what exactly are they trying to do? Are we to deduce by the content of the site that they are only targeting those Latinos who actually speak Spanish? Or perhaps they assume that ALL people of Hispanic descent are fluent in Spanish? If that’s the case then why would they highlight Brazilian born players such as Anderson Varejao, Nene, and Leandro Barbosa as part of this campaign? Does the NBA not know that people in Brazil speak Portuguese? So many questions, so little (ie, no) answers.
A cursory search about this campaign didn’t reveal much other than the same press release and a link back to the original site. We were, however, able to find this Facebook page that had the only video that explicitly refers to this campaign. Unfortunately, the video doesn’t reveal more than your run of the mill highlight reel along with some Spanish copy. We guess this is what the NBA meant when they said “increased TV and internet exposure, plus community projects” on their press release.
Perhaps something the NBA should have done is highlight the league’s superstars that are of Latino descent, even if they’re not Spanish speakers. For example, did you know that Carmelo Anthony is half Puerto Rican and that he has a tattoo of the Puerto Rican flag? We did.
Also, did you know that Gilbert Arenas’s paternal grandfather is from Cuba? If Latinos knew that shit, they’d probably care about the sport. That’s what the NBA should be focusing on, not on no-namers like Najera. Sorry, buddy.
As of this writing, the NBA publicist associated with this campaign did not respond to our email or phone call.
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Brook Lopez’s father was born in Cuba. His father’s first cousin is Marcelino Lopez, the major league pitcher from the 50’s and 60’s. He is certainly more high profile on the Nets than Najera. Yet no mention of him either.
That’s exactly the point though. The NBA dropped the ball (no pun intended) majorly on this one. They should have followed the NFL’s lead and embrace the recognizable game. Look at how much Mark Sanchez is being used to promote the league amongst Hispanics
The NBA just needs to put out a league that’s entertaining and stop trying to market itself to a specific group of people. You’re right, dude, other than putting a Web site out there in Spanish, the league hasn’t really done much by way of marketing. I really don’t care if Carmelo Anthony is Puerto Rican; the dude can ball, and that’s all that matters to me.