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On Monday night, the Seattle Storm will have the No. 2 pick in this year\u2019s WNBA draft as the result of a major multi-team trade that went down earlier this year during the WNBA\u2019s free-agency period.<\/p>\n
While fans reeled from the shocking news that the Storm were trading longtime favorite and Olympic gold medalist Jewell Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces, the Storm\u2019s marketing team was already thinking months ahead to Monday\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
The draft comes on the heels of March Madness and right around the time senior athletes don their caps and gowns, so the timing presents teams with an opportunity to capitalize on heightened excitement around women\u2019s basketball. Since the Storm have the second pick, it\u2019s all but guaranteed that they\u2019ll draft a player with some name recognition.<\/p>\n
Whoever she might be, the team\u2019s marketers have big plans for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese players are starting to make noise,\u201d Storm CMO Will Gulley told Marketing Brew. \u201cWe don\u2019t know who we\u2019re going to get\u2026but we can definitely take advantage of March Madness and the connections there that people are having and build it into what we\u2019re doing next.\u201d<\/p>\n
Draft day:<\/strong> Since news of the three-team trade broke, the Storm have been posting content having to do with their draft pick with the intention of \u201cdrumming up some conversation,\u201d Gulley said. The cadence of those posts picked up leading up to the day of the draft in New York City, where the Storm sent a group of staffers including a content producer, their VP of PR, and Kayce Kirihara, a Seattle-based influencer who\u2019s previously worked with the team.<\/p>\n Once the Storm make their pick, that group will focus on generating content highlighting the player and introducing her to Seattle fans, Gulley said. Ideally, she\u2019ll film a video greeting fans and talking about any connections she might have to the city.<\/p>\n Back home, the Storm is hosting a draft watch party at Queen Anne Beerhall complete with a DJ, giveaways, and appearances from assistant coach Pokey Chatman and from the Storm\u2019s mascot, Doppler. The team expects about 500 fans to attend, according to Gulley.<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Welcome wagon:<\/strong> Given the breakneck pace of March Madness, the draft, training camp, and, in some cases, graduation, rookies\u2019 schedules tend to be unpredictable. Still, Gulley said he\u2019s aiming to get the new recruit out west for a visit as soon as April 15. The plan is still tentative, but the trip could include tours of some Seattle landmarks, activations on signage around Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Center featuring the draftee, and content shoots with the Storm, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about making sure that they feel the love, and then introducing them into the Seattle marketplace and strategic areas in the city,\u201d Gulley said.<\/p>\n The Nika M\u00fchl effect:<\/strong> Last year, the Storm drafted guard Nika M\u00fchl out of UConn, who made a name for herself during March Madness defending Caitlin Clark. M\u00fchl saw limited playing time in her rookie season, perhaps unsurprisingly given the Storm\u2019s lineup of veterans like Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith, but the built-in fan base she brought to the team had an undeniable impact.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time we posted something, engagement went through the roof,\u201d Gulley said. \u201cIt was remarkable the amount of attention that we got, and whenever we posted something that did not include Nika, fans were like, \u2018Where\u2019s Nika?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Gulley said he\u2019s looking to replicate that kind of engagement around this year\u2019s No. 2 pick, which he wants to use to further grow the Storm\u2019s following and sell single-game tickets to fans from March Madness. The team already hit its annual ticket sales goals before single-game tickets went on sale, he said, but the plan is to keep up the pace as women\u2019s basketball fandom grows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re living in this moment right now where these firsts are happening,\u201d Gulley said. \u201cWe have an opportunity to continue to build upon what has been a really strong legacy of the WNBA and really strong basketball history of the WNBA, and our opportunity is to grow it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nGet marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n