Early October saw the Phoenix Suns sign a patch partnership with PayPal which sees the global online payments system become the official payment partner of the NBA franchise.
The multi-year sponsorship tie-up with the San Jose (California) based company deal doesn’t just include the Suns, but also sees both the Arizona city’s WNBA side the Phoenix Mercury and Spanish La Liga 2 division side Real Club Deportiva Mallorca (also owned by Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver) put PayPal logos on their jerseys too.
Both the brand and the teams celebrated with an announcement launch event and amplified the new tie-up across the usual digital and social platforms with video, image and messaging executions.
Our newest teammate!
@Suns x @PayPal pic.twitter.com/J36UhnVkMJ— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 2, 2018
The Suns and @PayPal team up for the ultimate fan experience.https://t.co/L2Iz1muS2d
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 2, 2018
What a special day.
What a special partnership.@Suns x @PayPal pic.twitter.com/i35dwrDHRo— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 3, 2018
Let the celebration begin!@Suns x @PayPal pic.twitter.com/zy5CIsZAwi
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 2, 2018
Excited to team up with @PayPal! https://t.co/E4o0icwOUT
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) October 2, 2018
The alliance means that the Suns will now offer its fans a chance to pay through PayPal owned Venmo for tickets, food, drink and merchandise and the goal is to leverage the partnership in a way that eventually leads to the team’s Talking Stick Arena (also home to the Phoenix Mercury) become a cashless environment.
PayPal is thrilled to partner with the Phoenix @Suns to enhance the fan experience ecosystem by creating a seamless payment process when purchasing tickets, merchandise, concessions, and more. https://t.co/mLCAj2yYAu pic.twitter.com/4Hz1zaWehy
— PayPal (@PayPal) October 2, 2018
Comment:
This new partnership may well lead to some inventive and notable activations – especially in terms of services and utilities.
But, thus far, the launch campaign has been fairly vanilla creatively.
This deal is part of the second wave of patch partnerships in the NBA: following the avalanche of alliances last year which included:
Harley Davidson & Milwaukee Bucks
Goodyear & Cleveland Cavaliers
Rakuten & Golden State Warriors
That leaves just five (of the 30 NBA teams) still without a partnership: Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards.
So look at for new deals from these teams in the not too distance future.
Links:
PayPal
https://www.facebook.com/PayPal
https://www.instagram.com/paypal
https://www.youtube.com/user/PayPal
Phoenix Suns
https://www.youtube.com/user/PhoenixSunsVideos
Phoenix Mercury
https://www.facebook.com/phoenixmercury
https://twitter.com/phoenixmercury
https://www.instagram.com/phoenixmercury/
