European Basketball Marketing Summit '08 Closes With Success

Euroleague Basketball has completed successfully a two-day European Basketball Marketing Summit '08, which was aimed at offering a unique opportunity for all clubs and leagues to share their knowledge and experience, as well as to interact and learn new strategies in order to work towards the common growth of European basketball.

Following the Top 16 Draw on Monday, February 4, also in Madrid, the summit opened with 50 representatives of teams and leagues attending a welcome speech by Mr. Jordi Bertomeu, the CEO of Euroleague Basketball. Following that introduction, a first lecture was given by Mr. James Sinton, CEO of the Worldwide Hospitality Division of Marcus Evans, who discussed the benefits that good management of hospitality packages can offer both the customers and the clubs. Next, Mr. Enrico Castorina of the Benetton Basket Media and Communication Department opened a ticketing debate during which attendants shared their impressions and experiences about the different ticket sales strategies that can be adopted by clubs. To finish the first day of presentations, Mr. Maximilian Madile, Associate Product Marketing Manager of Google, offered a lecture about the different possible ways to increase the Internet presence of clubs and leagues and outlined the benefits that can arise from such a presence, using as an example the recently signed agreement between Google and Euroleague Basketball.

The Marketing Summit continued on Tuesday, February 5, with two lectures, the first by Ms. Susan Mulders, EMEA Sports Marketing Manager, Basketball & Fitness for Nike, who spoke on the different roads by which to diffuse sports contents. Next, Ms. Paloma Escudero, Executive Director of UNICEF – Spanish Committee, made a presentation that centered upon the Community Social Responsibility initiatives that can be developed by the clubs and leagues in order to give a more humanitarian dimension to basketball. The event concluded with a debate about publicity campaigns in basketball, which started with Ms. Monica Balanzategui, Creative Director of Shackleton Group, who gave examples of low-cost initiatives with strong positive impact and visibility.