On October 9th, Vivo held a press conference in Shanghai, announcing that it had reached a strategic cooperation agreement with the NBA. They will cooperate in many fields, such as marketing and youth basketball, over the next few years. This means Vivo has replaced ZTE, becoming the NBA’s only official mobile phone partner in China.
Global vice president of Vivo Ni Xudong officially announced the news at the meeting. Moreover, he stated that Vivo will work together with the NBA in the marketing and promotion of the NBA preseason, youth training, University Basketball League and Youth Basketball League. At the same time, he said, the NBA has a huge group of fans in China, so Vivo users will be able to better enjoy the NBA tournament.
Cooperation between Vivo and NBA has been known about for a long time. On June 30th, Vivo revealed the “secret” at the launch of the annual flagship X7. Seizing the opportunity of the NBA preseason held in Shanghai, the two sides formally announced the establishment of a partnership.
Vivo have spared no efforts in sport marketing, sponsoring the Indian Cricket Super League Finals，the Premier League and European Cup this year. This time, taking the place of ZTE, Vivo worked together with the NBA, which is another big player in sports marketing.
It is not the first time that domestic mobile phone manufacturers have connected to sports. LeTV phone owns sports properties because of LeSports and OPPO has reached a cooperation agreement with La Liga team Barcelona. Not only does Nubia purchase advertising space on the chest of the Jiangsu Suning football team, but they also invited Portuguese football superstar C Luo to endorse their products. Huawei also sponsor La Liga and Atletico Madrid among others. As the domestic sports market becomes hotter and hotter, Vivo working together with NBA, intend to stabilize and expand in the cutthroat handset market.
Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin