SPORTS MARKETING

Basketball Africa League a slam dunk for sponsors?

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024

Africa has a growing fascination with basketball, making it attractive to the NBA and its local BAL partner. Brands see the potential too.

African marketers are taking note of the NBA juggernaut’s formation in 2021 of the NBA Africa to conduct its business across Africa and run the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Photo: Hennessy

Having first established African operations in South Africa in 2010, today NBA Africa also has offices in Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya.

In 2023, the former CEO of NBA Africa, Victor Williams, noted that Africa’s market was particularly attractive for the global NBA brand, much as NBA China was when the NBA successfully moved into that market in 2008 – notably using a similar approach to its plans for Africa.

Among the reasons for Africa’s appeal, said Williams, is its potential to supply high-quality future players, who are the lifeblood of the game.

“We also want to reach into and tap African consumers as well, and African youth – and get them to become fans of our game,” he said. “We also see basketball as a vehicle for delivering social and economic impact on the continent.”

Harnessed properly, sports is a powerful tool

This accords with the views of NBA Africa Vice President and NBA Nigeria’s Country Head, Gbemisola Abudu, who told a recent podcast that “sports are the most powerful tool, if harnessed properly… as a tool for nation building, development, and as an economic growth engine”.

With infrastructure going up in support of the continent’s basketball vision, in 2024 the 48-game BAL season is being played across four different African countries for the first time. These are Senegal, Rwanda, South Africa and Egypt.

Brand partners for the 2024 BAL season are alcohol brand Hennesy, Wilson Sporting Goods, African Export-Import Bank (known as Afreximbank), beer brand Castle Lite, airline RwandAir, and Visit Rwanda, the tourism promotion arm of the Rwanda Development Board.

However, brands are being asked to give and do more than just allocate marketing budget. They are being called to understand African trends and needs, and to get involved.

As Abudu – a successful luxury brand marketer in her own right – explains: “Basketball is a priority for us, but it is beyond basketball. For the programmes we do that impact the youth, we ensure it instils life skills.”

You will find this story, and much more, in Issue 1 2024 of Strategic Marketing for Africa – the voice of African marketing and the official publication of the African Marketing Confederation (AMC).

Read it online or download it here. A print edition of the magazine is also available.

Pre-conference masterclass discusses taking African brands to the world

Participants challenged to identify, articulate and commercialise the cultural assets that make their brand ready for a global audience.

Three people stand side by side in front of a sports direct backdrop the woman in the middle holds a blue and orange 'sports direct' sign

Africa’s first Sports Direct retail store opens its doors in Nairobi

Second outlet planned for Nairobi before year end, with Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco said to be future target markets.

Person wearing a beige sweater holds a phone with a translucent search bar reading 'search' and microphonecamera icons in the foreground

Search is fragmenting – credibility and trust create the new visibility

Online search behaviour has changed significantly with the rise of AI. How can African brands adapt to this new marketing landscape?

Person shopping at a deli counter holding an orange shopping basket in a cheese section of a supermarket

The move toward future-ready food packaging where materials meet AI

Researchers propose a framework for packaging that senses, learns and acts – making packaging an active, AI-powered tool against food waste.

Conference stage with a woman in a patterned dress speaking to an audience large screens display '' logos and banners for a marketers conference with 'institute of marketing in malawi' branding on stage panels and backdrop

Malawi’s marketers urged to put trust at the heart of the profession

Country needs marketers to build recognition and consumer trust around Malawian products and national brand, says Deputy Minister.

Lingerie brand creates street-stopping advertising in Manhattan

Fashion brand suspends giant lingerie high above the city’s streets, using shadows to create a moving billboard for pedestrians and motorists.

We know AI influencers aren’t real – so why do we trust them?

Researchers describe AI influencers as having a ‘dual identity’. Consumers evaluate both ‘person’ and ‘technology’ identities at once.

Hotel receptionist assisting a guest at the check in counter with a gray suitcase nearby behind the desk

Why trust has become a critical asset for hotel industry marketers

Reputation and trust, once modest influences on hotel choice, have become some of the strongest predictors of patronage, study finds.

Three people in formal attire pose for a photo at an awards event a woman in a pink dress holds a trophy while two men in suits stand beside her against a gold confetti backdrop

FNB bank’s eBucks programme dominates the 2026 SA loyalty awards

South African brands are increasingly setting the global benchmark for customer loyalty strategies, organisers say.

Portrait of a man with short black hair and a beard wearing a black button down shirt against a light gray background

Zambia’s strongest creative ideas are emerging from local truths

Global influences among younger consumers are still present, but they are being filtered through a distinctly Zambian lens.

Yellow humanoid robot at a bakery counter inspecting a display of donuts on display in front of glass cases

Consumers have doubts about products when they’re designed by AI

Researchers find that lack of perceived ‘genuine care’ is the mechanism connecting AI involvement to lower trust ratings.