Chicago Bulls x Motorola
The 6th Annual Awards
- Best Brand Sponsorship
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
The Bulls and Motorola owned the moment in 2024. Through Fan Experience, Brand Elevation, Co-Creation and Shaping Culture, the Chicago Bulls and Motorola redefine the meaning of tentpoles, raising the bar for what an purposeful partnership can do for brands with complementary goals.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
Motorola has many sports sponsorships, but what sets the Bulls partnership apart is the clear and purposeful approach that allows us to accomplish awareness, B2B, and Product consideration goals through one partnership.
At its foundation, the Motorola partnership is built on an always-on cadence of high impact branding and signage, purposeful in-arena content, consistent social presence, and unique hospitality experiences. But those always-on initiatives are the batteries, and the four tentpoles and how we bring them to life, are the car. Neither can function without the other. Each tentpole moment must include highly visible branding, customer or employee hospitality, and product integration to be successful And because of the robust, creative, and bespoke ways we’ve brought Motorola authentically into the biggest Bulls moments, the results speak for themselves.
With this approach, we’ve made a motorola razr device appear endemic to the 2024 Bulls Entertainment Open video drop, and let it drive the choreography of a 312 Crew performance. The partnership is so strong that when the NBA announced the In-Season Tournament, having no idea what this could be, Motorola jumped aboard as the presenting sponsor with one phone call knowing only the Bulls would do it right.
Objective
The Bulls and Motorola partner together on the Bulls most visible asset—the jersey patch. But the patch is only a spoke in a well-designed wheel of partnership strategy rooted at the center of the two brands missions and strategic priorities. The Bulls mission—to inspire and unite through legendary experiences—is perfectly complemented by Motorola’s mission to design, create, and deliver purposeful innovation to people across the globe.
Where Motorola aims to drive product awareness and brand consideration, the Bulls deliver through the organization’s priority to cultivate its global fanbase. When Motorola wants to associate with likeminded premium brands, the Bulls reinforce through brand adjacent spaces in art, fashion, creators, and basketball culture. Where Motorola intends to creative unique customer and employee experiences, the Bulls raise the bar with a strategic focus on evolving our customer experience. These complementary objectives have led us to build our partnership foundation on four key tenets.
- Own the biggest moments
- Play in brand adjacent spaces
- Leverage highly visible placements
- Create one-of-a-kind experiences
Strategy & Execution
On paper, the Bulls x Motorola partnership consists of logos and assets launched in short order prior to our first season together. To develop the partnership in year 2, the Bulls brought together experts from different disciplines to brainstorm what would uniquely benefit our fans and accomplish Motorola’s goals.
This “agency approach” has allowed us to turn Motorola’s contractual assets into our most impactful platforms and campaigns that support our mutual marketing objectives. Together we determined four shared goals and the tentpole moments that would deliver on each.
- Fan Experience – Motorola owned the Bulls SEE RED Home Opener meetings fans where they are when they are the most engaged and enhancing their experience from the season start
- Brand Elevation – We partnered together on an innovation in NBA culture where Motorola played a crucial role in making the first Bulls In-Season Tournament a far-reaching premium experience
- Co-Creation – With our City Edition jersey campaign, we aligned with Bulls legends and disruptors to push the boundaries of art, fashion, and storytelling beyond the limits of basketball
- Shaping Culture – We leveraged Bulls Entertainment to inspire new audiences beyond Bulls fans, cultivating emotional connections in lifestyle and entertainment
Organizations
- Chicago Bulls
- Motorola
Links
Credits
Jamie Litoff
Director, Partnership Marketing
Chicago Bulls
Megan Donovan
VP, Partnership Marketing
Chicago Bulls
Abbe Gahart
Sr. Account Executive, Partnership Marketing
Chicago Bulls
Mark Levitt
VP, Business Development
Chicago Bulls
Anthony Piccioni
Manager, Partnership Strategy & Insights
Chicago Bulls
Michelle McComas
Executive Director, Entertainment & Events
Chicago Bulls
Joe Pinchin
Director, Digital Content
Chicago Bulls
Chris Ramirez
Director, BullsTV
Chicago Bulls
Serena Yeh
Sr Manager, Digital Partnerships
Chicago Bulls
Sarah Smith
Director, Marketing
Chicago Bulls
Alex Compton
Integrated Marketing Manager
Chicago Bulls
Steve Pankow
Manager
Chicago Bulls
Olivia Blatchford
Sr Mgr, Retail Merchandising & Buying
Chicago Bulls
Majo Martin
North American Marketing Director
Motorola
Kelly Wilkie
Head of Brand Partnerships & Events
Motorola
Mimi Morris
Partnerships Manager
Motorola
Yikai Deng
Sr. Specialist, Marketing Data Analytics
Motorola
Feyisayo Yusuf
Events Manager
Motorola
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 6th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 6, 2024 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
