Partnership with Opendorse set to help players enhance marketability, seamlessly align with sponsors and licensees for social media campaigns

NEW YORK, NY  — The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and its for-profit arm, THINK450, today announced a partnership with Opendorse that will provide NBA players and brand partners with a platform for easy content management and campaign execution on social media. The agreement aims to provide continual value and educational resources to help players build and monetize the value of their name, image, and likeness rights.

With Opendorse, brand partners, sponsors, and licensees can design NBA player-driven social media campaigns in one easy-to-use platform. Once a campaign’s participants are identified, brands use Opendorse to send players tap-to-publish posts, allowing for accurate and on-time activations that are tailored to deliver the brand’s desired outcomes. Once published, brand marketers can measure the success of individual posts and full campaigns in real-time.

The program aims to make collaboration and paid opportunities easier and more frequent for players. Each player participant can approve and publish content to their personal Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram channels with a single tap.

“It is our mission to provide our members with as much value beyond the court as possible,” said Payne Brown, President of THINK450. “We recognize that our players have incredible reach and influence on social media, making them powerful voices in their communities and valuable additions to brands’ ongoing activations. This partnership with Opendorse means more opportunities for players to use their platforms and work with organizations that align with their core values.”

“It’s exciting to see the NBPA take the next step to help the players and brands work together,” said NBPA member and Brooklyn guard Caris LeVert. “As NBA players, we are always juggling different obligations and having a tool like Opendorse to streamline the process of working with brand partners makes our lives that much easier.”

There have never been more eyes on social media, with user-engagement estimated to be up as much as 75% during the coronavirus outbreak. And in North American sports, no group of athletes can match NBA players’ reach and engagement to their fans. In 2019, NBA players produced more cumulative social media engagements (1.6 billion) and video views (1.52 billion) than any other group in North American team sports despite having the fewest active athletes.

“By the numbers, NBA players are the most marketable in North American sports,” said Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence. “We aim to not only bring these athletes more opportunities, but also make their influence on social more accessible to the brands who support them. I’m thrilled to join the NBPA and THINK450 in maximizing value and marketability for NBA players with social media.”