NBA To Expand éne•bé•a Campaign

The 411 comes via press release:

Following the success of éne•bé•a, the National Basketball Association’s (NBA)  first fully integrated Hispanic marketing campaign, the league  and Univision Interactive Media, Inc. today announced a partnership to bring to life the league’s dynamic Spanish-language website www.nba.com/enebea, on Univision Interactive Media’s online platform. Launching later this month, the co-branded site will include blogs by Latino NBA players, video highlights, the latest news, photo galleries, interactive fan content, and other offerings.

The NBA also introduced NBA All-Star and Atlanta Hawk’s Center Al Horford (Dominican Republic) and former player Felipe Lopez (Dominican Republic) as spokespersons for the campaign. Horford and Lopez will engage the league’s Latino Fans throughout the upcoming season via grassroots programs, special events and unique consumer products.

“Following the launch of last year’s éne•bé•a campaign, we saw significant increases in interest and consumption of our game among U.S. Hispanic sports fans,” said NBA Senior Director of U.S. Hispanic Marketing Saskia Sorrosa. “Our partnership with Univision Interactive, coupled with our extended efforts this season, allow us to further engage our Hispanic fans in an inclusive and culturally relevant way; while positively impacting our business, and creating opportunities for partners to connect with passionate consumers across multiple platforms.”

“This partnership will enhance our growing sports offerings and further enable us to deliver on our commitment to providing a unique and compelling interactive sports experience,” said Kevin Conroy, president, Univision Interactive Media. “We are very pleased to provide Hispanic sports fans with access to this great NBA coverage, content and stats on our site.”

The NBA’s Hispanic fan base grew nine percent between 2008 and 2009, outpacing the growth of the U.S. Hispanic population within that same time-period by 125 percent. Viewership among Hispanics increased 17 percent during the 2009-10 season versus a year ago, and the NBA on ESPN Deportes was up 57 percent in unique viewers. On the digital front, Hispanic traffic to NBA.com grew 20 percent compared to last season, and numbers on éne•bé•a’s social networking sites continue to grow at an impressive rate, with Facebook’s éne•bé•a page boasting more than 220,000 fans