NEW YORK (Jan. 19, 2011) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced the recipients of the 2010 NBA Retail Summit Awards today, naming the Utah Jazz the 2009-10 Team Retailer of the Year and Majestic Athletic and Wincraft, Inc. the inaugural Apparel and Non-Apparel Licensee of the Year awards, respectively, as voted on by all 30 NBA team retailers.
This will mark the first time the Jazz has received Team Retailer of the Year, an annual honor that the league has awarded since 2002 to recognize the accomplishments of team merchandise sales and operations.
The Jazz, who launched a new team retail store as well as new uniform designs this year, earned the honor after an extensive review of 30 team retailers on criteria such as innovative marketing and merchandising programs, breadth of product assortment, customer service and customer shopping experiences.
For the past several years, Fanzz, the Jazz’s retail division, has run a number of customer engaging marketing programs including cross promotions with tickets and merchandise, a fan-fest that included a fashion show for the new jersey unveiling as well as radio broadcasts from stores that included player appearances.  These programs were supported through in-store signage, TV, movie pre-feature and radio advertising as well as customer email and text marketing.  During the 2008-09 season the team took home the “Floor Burn Award” which is awarded annually by the league to the one team that consistently goes above and beyond in an effort to maximize sales.
NBA team retailers awarded apparel company Majestic Athletic the first Apparel Licensee of the Year Award for offering creative, customized graphics, innovative designs such as the “Notorious,” “Swagger,” and “Here’s to a Big Season” T-shirt programs, in addition to their round-the-clock customer service operation.
Wincraft, Inc. earned the first Non-Apparel Licensee of the Year honor.  A leader in retail licensed and promotional products and an NBA licensee for more than 30 years, Wincraft, Inc. offers more than 3,600 NBA products manufactured in the U.S., including complete product collections for fans to express team loyalty at home, on their automobiles, and within the arena on game day.  Wincraft, Inc. was cited for their professional partnership approach to building business across all of the team retailers.
“This year’s awards represent the best of the best in our business.  The Jazz demonstrated that opening a new team store and launching a new uniform simultaneously provides a successful way to increase business and engage fans,” said Brian Keegan, vice president of retail marketing and development.  “For the Apparel and Non-Apparel categories, NBA team retailers voted to award Majestic Athletic and Wincraft, Inc. in recognition of their excellent products and service in the past year.”
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CONTACT: Amanda Thorn, NBA, (212) 407-8477 or athorn@nba.com