NBA changes media agency while its advertising investment grows

The National Basketball Association, NBA, in a new marketing maneuver, hires Starcom Mediavest Group, as its new media agency. The shift, confirmed by a league spokesman, takes place when the NBA invests more aggressively under the management of the CMO, Pam El, who assumed the marketing leadership last year.Last year the NBA spent US$135.8 million on media in the US, more than the US$93.6 million it invested in 2013, according to data from Kantar Media. “We are going to be much more aggressive with our marketing. We want to go after a larger fan base” El said in an interview last year.Recently, media was being handled by Media Storm, which is part of the Water Cooler Group chain, co-directed by Antony Young, former executive from Mindshare. SMG is expected to handle the accound through their sports marketing practice, called Sports at SMGThe NBA’s lead creative agency is Translation, they won the account in December, replacing Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which had been the NBA’s agency of record since 2007.