By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Despite the early end of the season, Anadolu Efes has been awarded with the gold at the annual EuroLeague Devotion Marketing Awards for their outstanding work off the courts over the past year. The other top three entries were from Crvena Zvezda (silver) and Fenerbahce (bronze).
Per EuroLeague:
Euroleague Basketball singled out three clubs for their outstanding work off the courts over the past year by naming them the recipients of the annual Devotion Marketing Awards. Anadolu Efes Istanbul is the Gold Award winner for 2019-20, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade was selected for the Silver Award and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul for the Bronze Award.
The winners were announced during the virtual EuroLeague Business Area Directors Meeting on Wednesday with their colleagues and other top executives from Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and 7DAYS EuroCup clubs watching.
To enter the Devotion Marketing Awards, clubs were invited to present a marketing initiative they had carried out during the previous season in areas such as digital strategy, sponsorship activation, brand development, ticketing and game presentation.
Efes was named the overall winner on the strength of its new action plans and strategy during the COVID-19 crisis. The club made health the center of its campaign and integrated fans, season-ticket holders and sponsors to maximize the effect. The club arranged numerous digital events on its web site and through social media. Efes also focused on ways to digitalize the game experience to generate innovative content and new revenue models.
Zvezda achieved new record attendance during the 2019-20 season after investing in an upgrade of the in-game experience for fans. The club paid special attention to families and young fans while improving activities during halftime and timeouts. Likewise, Zvezda unveiled a “Together we Stand, together we can” campaign to commemorate it’s the club’s 75th anniversary and collaborated with Billy Baron on his Billy Gym training program on Instagram during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Fenerbahce and its name sponsor Beko teamed up on a global initiative, “Eat like a pro” to empower new generations to live healthier and to help parents to feed their children healthier foods. The program both created awareness and engaged Fenerbahce fans in innovative and fun ways. The use of Fenerbahce players in the program, both in person and through social media, was a pillar of its success.
Congratulations to the winning clubs, and to all the others who submitted outstanding entries!