Brands In Sport: Top Mentioned Brands by NBA Finals 2019 Teams

The 2019 NBA Finals pitted the two time defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, against the Toronto Raptors. While the Raptors ended up taking home the championship title, we examine which brands got the most attention from the two teams on social media. With such strong media coverage around the NBA playoffs, sports sponsors are trying to get as much brand exposure as possible, through both the broadcasts and through the social media accounts of the Finals teams. Here’s a look at the most mentioned brands on social media by the Warriors and Raptors through the months of May and June.

Most Mentioned Brands By The Golden State Warriors

The most mentioned brands by the Golden State Warriors in the months of May and June have been Kaiser Permanente, Verizon, and Mountain Dew. Kaiser Permanente has received the most social media mentions (29) from the Warriors along with the highest Promotional Effectiveness (PE) score. The PE score is a key sponsorship KPI that examines how effective sports properties are at promoting a brand through social media. Click here to learn more about the PE score. The quality and frequency with which the Warriors post about both Kaiser Permanente and Verizon is exceptional. If they were to improve these scores, here’s a look at areas to focus on. The promoted posts about Kaiser Permanente are not doing as well as non-promoted posts, they must focus fan engagement on these promotional posts. While Mountain Dew is getting posted about frequently by the Warriors with good engagement from the fans, the other factors like share of voice are low, giving the Warriors a lower Promotional Effectiveness score for the soda brand. In order to increase this score, the quality of the promotion in the posts about Mountain Dew must improve and fewer brands should be included in these posts.

Most Mentioned Brands By The Toronto Raptors

To the North, the most mentioned brands by the Toronto Raptors are Bell, Aviva, and Ontario Lottery and Gaming. The Toronto Raptors have done a remarkable job of frequently promoting quality content of all three brands, while limiting the number of other brands they promote. However, the team could increase their engagement and promoted post score for all three brands, especially Ontario Lottery and Gaming. Audience engagement is crucial, especially when so many people are following along with such high profile games like the NBA Finals. Captivating fans with interesting promotional content will increase engagement to the brand.

The Better Team In Sponsorship?

After examining the top three most mentioned brands of each team, the Golden State Warriors do a better job at promoting these brands. The Raptors produce more content but the Warriors have a higher average Promotional Effectiveness Score and aren’t that far behind in terms of number of mentions. While the Golden State audience seems to be more engaged with promoted posts, the Raptors have good frequency and quality of the posts promoting every brand. The Raptors need to focus on posting more engaging content when they mention these brands. The Raptors take home the title of 2019 NBA Championship though the Warriors are winning on social media for their brand partners.