NBA x BaubleBar

The Background:

Recognizing a gap in the market for on-trend licensed accessories, BaubleBar developed and designed a collection of officially licensed NBA products. The collection — launched for the first time in 2021 and refreshed each basketball season thereafter — featured earrings, necklaces, bracelets, charms, and more. It also helped further establish the brand as a reputable and reliable licensing partner in the market, with NBA joining Disney on BaubleBar’s roster of world-renowned licensers.

The Challenge:

When we launched the initial NBA x BaubleBar collection, it was the first time we’d spoken directly to a sports demographic. Since I oversaw BaubleBar’s content strategy and copy, I completed extensive market research on other fashion/sports collaborations, as well as our target audience, to help bring this launch, collection, and campaign to life. Bringing that information to the table, I then worked closely with BaubleBar’s creative director, photographer, and graphic designers to brainstorm compelling content strategies, assets, and copy that would stand out amongst the sports-fan crowd.

Delving into the sports category also required me to, funnily enough, keep up with sports themselves. To ensure that our content calendar was hitting important NBA milestones throughout the season, I had to stay up-to-date with team standings, playoff calendars, and fan sentiment. I also went the extra mile to write targeted copy that would resonate with our customers, learning the characteristics of each team we carried — including their city, mascot, slogan, rivalries, and colors.

Another challenge of a partnership like this was developing content and copy that also aligned with the NBA’s own brand guidelines and styles. Not only did we have to meet our own brand standards, we had to do so within the parameters of the basketball league giant, too. Each asset we created was sent to the NBA for review, and we worked closely with them to ensure that we were representing their brand in a way they’d be proud of.

The Solution:

The NBA x BaubleBar collection was a resounding success, paving the way for two other major sports licensing partnerships for BaubleBar (see NFL and MLB, which I also both worked on, below). I led the content and copy strategy for the initial launch, as well as updates to the collection for the rest of my time at BaubleBar.