On 8 March, Avery Dennison activated its status as the presenting partner of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrated the NBA’s ‘2024 Women’s Hoops Night’ by activating around the team’s home a game against through a campaign built around the in-stadium giveaway of bespoke Near-field Communication (NFC) patches which link to fan smartphones and enable supporters to enter a competition to win in-game worn items.
Objective
The multiple aims of this activation included marking International Women’s Day, empower employee group, boost awareness of the sponsorship and showcase its product range.
Activation
For the second year running, the brand sponsor – which describes itself as ‘a global leader in materials science and digital identification solutions’ – activated at the team’s home Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse arena for the Cav’s evening game against the league leading Minnesota Timberwolves.
In addition to signage a team of Avery Dennison employees representing Elevate – the company’s employee resource group (ERG) supporting women and their allies – greeted in the arena’s concourse and handed out special ‘Women’s History Night NFC-enabled Iron-on Patches’. These triggered an interaction on fan phones and the the NFC-enabled patch enabled them to enter a contest to win the Item-Of-The-Game’: a branded ‘Women’s History Night Crewneck’ (which was also available for purchase in the team store).
The sponsor and team also teamed up on Women’s History Night to debut a call-to-action encouraging fans attending the game to nominate a woman in their lives who has made a positive impact for inclusion on Cavs’ ‘Wall Of Women’. With messaging promoting nominations running on sponsor LED boards, IPTVs and the marquee jumbotron will prompt nominations throughout the game.
The in-stadium ground team, signage and bespoke product programme was supported by social content all championing the event and it also ran as part of the team’s and the company’s umbrella Women’s Day programmes.
Avery Dennison is proud to celebrate #InternationalWomenDay. We believe in a workplace where everyone has access to advance their careers, and we are committed to 40% of women in leadership positions by 2030. #togetherAD #InspireInclusion #EveryVoiceEveryDay pic.twitter.com/KmI8Ypruhf
— Avery Dennison (@AveryDennison) March 8, 2024
“At the Cleveland Cavaliers we work endlessly to advocate and uplift women, not just in the world of basketball, but the sports industry in its entirety and beyond. It is important to our organization that women feel heard and that there is a seat at the table for everyone to bring forward new and innovative ideas. We are proud to partner with Avery Denison for another Women’s Hoops Night Celebration, an organization that champions Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and we are excited for fans to engage with the many activations our organizations have put together that empower women within the community.”
Cleveland Cavaliers Executive VP and Chief Commercial Officer Shelly Cayette
“Women’s History Night is a natural fit for Avery Dennison, in our home state of Ohio, to add value to the fan experience at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse through a meaningful initiative that serves our shared mission to empower women in our community. We look forward to a fun and engaging evening supporting women everywhere and honoring those nominated to the Cavs’ Wall of Women.”
Julie Vargas, VP and GM (Identification Solutions) of Elevate at Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison, a global company’s with its corporate HQ employing over 2,500 people based in the Cav’s Northeast Ohio home, is the Official Embellishment Partner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
To you and me that’s the company which adds personalized names and numbers to team merchandise.
The company’s commitment to global DEI initiatives spans supporting women, Black/African Americans, LBGTQI+, Hispanic/Latinx, and veteran employees and allies.
Indeed, its International Women’s Day 2024 initiative followed on from the sponsor’s ‘Black History Month’ work with the team a few days earlier.
Its products include labeling, embellishment, functional materials, plus radio frequency identification (RFID) inlays and tags, software applications that connect the physical and digital, and a variety of products and solutions that enhance branded packaging and carry or display information that improves the customer experience.
As well as working globally in the sports kit and merchandise space, it also works across the apparel industry, as well as in home and personal care, general retail, e-commerce, logistics, food and grocery, pharmaceuticals and automotive with 2023 total sales of $8.4bn.