MindArrow Systems, Aliso Viejo, CA, said today that the National Basketball Association (NBA) has chosen MindArrow to be its provider of rich media e-mail technology for teams in the NBA, WNBA and the NBDL. Mike Pennell, vice president of marketing at Mind Arrow, said financial terms of the contract could not be disclosed.
“From the standpoint of potential this is the biggest contract we have signed to date,” Pennell said.
According to Pennell, even though the NBA has signed an agreement with MindArrow, teams will still have to sign individual agreements should they decide to use the service, which is an interactive e-brochure containing an audio and video message from an NBA star as well as links back to the team store, team’s home page and a forwarding capability. The brochures do not require any plug-ins, players, or streaming.
“The cost of the campaigns have already been established between the NBA and us,” Pennell said. “But the teams would have to sign agreements outlining the type of e-brochure they would want to use, when they would run the campaign and how many e-mails they want to send out.”
Prior to this announcement MindArrow has signed agreements with five NBA teams including the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers. It has run pre-season campaigns for the Phoenix Suns and Orlando Magic in which it created e-brochures containing video messages from Anfernee Hardaway, of the Suns, and Grant Hill, of the Pistons, trying to get fans and prospects to purchase season ticket plans.
MindArrow said the Suns campaign had an overall viewership of 31 percent and a click-through rate of 61 percent and an overall response rate of 19 percent. The Magic campaign had a viewership of 59 percent with a click-through rate of 58 percent and an overall response rate of 30 percent. Both campaigns had a viral percentage of 19 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
“The NBA has two great assets, its celebrity talent, and its fans,” Pennell said. “This allows them to take advantage of both of those things and establish a stronger relationship between the two.”
Pennell said the forwarding capability of the e-brochure is also going to allow the NBA to try and go after a more Web savvy fan base.
