The EC in Prague is a chance for basketball
The highlight of the sports year, which generations of basketball fans look forward to, will come in September. Will it be possible to catch the audience’s interest and move the basket to the top sports in our country?
Basically, since the dissolution of the federation, basketball fans have been mainly used to women’s successes, either on the international field or with victories in the Euroleague. This July, for example, the junior girls in the U20 category finished silver in Europe. Czech men’s basketball did not have so many successes. Now, however, he is riding a wave that he has not known in the last few decades. An exceptional generation, they laid the foundation for success at the World Cup in China in 2019. After being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Australia, they managed to finish sixth overall and secure participation in the qualification for the Olympic Games (Olympic Games) in Tokyo. By the way, the American “Dream Team” finished seventh in China. In Tokyo, the group around Tomáš Satoranský finished ninth, which is the same position as during the last Czechoslovak participation in the Olympics in 1980. The best result of an independent Czech Republic at the European Championship (ME) is seventh place from 2015.
The national team will eventually want to surpass these achievements at the home European Championship. The 41st European Men’s Basketball Championship 2022 between September 1 and 18, 2022 will be hosted by Prague and the O2 arena as one of four host cities. Prague already hosted the European Championship in 1947 and then in 1981. At that time, Czechoslovakia finished in the bronze position when they defeated Spain in the match for third place in front of 16,000 spectators. Prague’s O2 Arena also hosted the Women’s European Championship in 2017 and the Final Four of the Euroleague in 2006 in the Sazka Arena. In addition to Prague, other groups will take place in Georgia, Germany and Italy. Czech basketball players will gradually face Poland, Serbia, the Netherlands, Finland and Israel. The top four teams from each group will advance directly to the elimination battles for the round of 16, which are on the program in Berlin.
Three lines of communication
Exactly 500 days before the basketball championship, the “Czechia dribbles!” project started, which was prepared by the Sport Invest agency for the Czech Basketball Federation operating under the CZ.Basketball brand. “The goal was not a several-week activation, which would then have nothing to build on. We have prepared a long-term concept that combines all communication channels and makes maximum use of the possibilities and potential of basketball and the personalities associated with them. I believe that it will be possible to start an atmosphere from which Czech basketball will benefit long after the championship,” David Trávníček, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sport Invest Marketing Group, said at the launch of the project. In a big interview for M 22/202 AM Czechia, for example, the event and the fact that the European Championship in basketball is the biggest one that can be organized with quality. The campaign started with a spot by director and screenwriter Petr Koleček, in which the second Czech in the NBA, Jiří Welsch, met with the great basketball fan, actor Ivan Trojan, on the boards of the Vinohradské Theater. TV spots were used as part of O2 TV, TV Prima and TV Seznam broadcasts. The total hit represented over ten million viewers.
The website ceskodriblje.cz became the main platform and communication channel. From the beginning, the project was focused on collecting contacts for advance ticket sales. Fans who registered on the website were given the priority right to buy tickets. The offer included tickets for individual matches, all-day tickets and a “follow your team” option with duels of a selected national team. “The campaign will significantly culminate in August, we will use outdoor areas, radio areas, TV trailers and an online campaign with media partners. We are launching a campaign using all formats and content on social networks. At the same time, all summer we are with the Czechia dribbles project! also at Hrady CZ festivals, thanks to joint partners Kooperativa,” lists the executive director of Sport Invest Marketing, Petr Hercík.
Campaigns focused on the domestic EuroBasket continue in three lines. In addition to the Czechia dribbling project, it is about promoting Eurobasket itself and the national team. “For the national team, we created the communication concept I am IN. It will increase in intensity from the beginning of August, we are planning a number of outputs on social networks and the web. It comes from the ambiguity that you are cool or that you will participate. In our case, both. We are wrapping an outdoor and online campaign in this line, we are preparing signature cards and we have also created special merch for our lifestyle brand CZ BSKT,” explains CZ.Basketball marketing director Martin Peterka.
According to Hercík, the goal is to sell the remaining tickets and to make the company aware that Eurobasket is already around the corner. “From the point of view of global figures and the reality of the Czech sports infrastructure, this is really the biggest sporting event that can be held here,” he adds. Czechia dribbles will become a basketball community project after the Eurobasket, which will come under the home association. “Over time, the project is getting more into the offline world, and for this summer it is performing its main function as a roadshow. The Czech dribbles stand appeared at various sports and cultural events. He was also in the World Cup qualification match between Poland and Israel, i.e. the two teams that will also come to Prague in September,” adds Peterka.
You can read the entire topic in the current issue of Marketing and Media magazine, published on Monday, August 1, 2022.