The NBA’s global influence in the last several years has been ongoing. Japan’s love for basketball has always been big in their culture as well, spreading from manga and anime to street ball leagues. The NBA last left its mark in Japan in 2003, but 16 years later, they came back and made an even bigger impact.
The beauty of Japan is their fandom of sports and sports culture. The NBA’s global team wanted to fuel the excitement of a country and let them know the NBA is bringing some big teams and big stars to play the game.
Tokyo itself is an energetic city where people are constantly moving. The abundance of visible out of home opportunities is a platform in itself.
Another NBA Global Game opportunity was at one of the most popular cities to visit at the time, Mexico City. The city has been familiar with the games for the last several years and the NBA wanted to continue their momentum.
The 2019 Global Games expanded from Paris to Japan and India had their first Global Game. Overall, the Global Games have been huge, but the biggest game was in China. The NBA aimed to keep the execution of the campaign simple, with a subtle reminder of the history between China, the NBA, and the fans.