When Zion Williamson steps on a basketball court, he commands attention. In his first game back after a 27-game injury absence on January 7, he electrified the hometown New Orleans crowd by elevating for a rim-rocking, 360 dunk. The 16,000 people in attendance, as well as local TV viewers, and, ultimately, viewers on sports highlight shows across North America witnessed this athlete’s remarkable ability. But when seeing Williamson in action, it would be impossible to miss the patch on the upper left of his, and all his teammates’ jerseys – a tidy logo of a fast-rising Canadian company with an international strategy.
The National Basketball Association is shaped by global business players, with Corporate America interwoven throughout much of the league’s sponsorships, naming rights, and revenue streams. Companies like Disney, StockX, PayPal, and other Fortune 500 firms prominently display their branding on the uniforms of several NBA teams.
The New Orleans Pelicans, however, aren’t dipping their toes into the typical sponsorship pool. Instead, they’re partnering with a company that shares a deep connection to the community and culture of the Bayou State – all the way from Canada.
Just under a month before the start of the current NBA season, the Pelicans announced an exclusive and unexpected jersey patch and community partnership with Toronto-based NewAge Products Inc.
Founded in 2008 by Western University alumni and classmates Parag Shah and Frank Spano, NewAge began as a school project before evolving into a service business focused on renovating garages. Over several years, it transformed into a leading commercial-grade manufacturer and designer of premium garage storage, cabinetry, flooring solutions, outdoor kitchen cabinetry, grills, and furniture – with sales exceeding USD $1 billion to date.
The partnership was formed after Ibotta, based in Denver, Colorado, and previously the Pelicans' jersey sponsor, acquired patch rights for the Denver Nuggets. Although the Pelicans had a year left on their deal with the mobile tech giant, they opted to exit and began searching for a new jersey partner. Simultaneously, NewAge was seeking to secure another major partnership agreement, having already collaborated with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and USA Hockey.
“I was looking at a particular NFL player to do something with, and I was talking to their agency, Range Sports, and it didn’t work out,” said Matt Ross, NewAge’s PR and Partnerships Manager. “We were too far apart in terms of the monetary value.”
But when one opportunity fell through, another presented itself almost immediately. Range, a marketing agency tasked with helping the Pelicans secure a new jersey patch partner, identified NewAge as a potential fit and presented the idea to the team. Ross then brought the proposal to Shah and Spano, who expressed interest.
“This came as a bit of a surprise to us, but not a massive surprise,” said Spano. “We always knew we wanted to have an impactful branding deal nationally, and I think this was just a great fit for us.”
“Louisiana’s culture of food, cooking, and chefs aligns with our core values, making it an ideal market for our barbecue and grill business,” said Shah.
“When Range brought us NewAge, we liked that they were fast growing and that the product was endemic to our community and region,” said Matt Webb, VP of Corporate Partnerships at the Pelicans and NFL’s New Orleans Saints. “Yet it’s not a category in which there are many deals.
“When you think about how to gain engagement from the fan base, you want to have something that’s different, but something that people are used to. Outdoor kitchens, outdoor barbecues, outdoor grilling, and the garage experience, all of that is natural [in Louisiana].”
The partnership was about more than just slapping the NewAge logo on the Pelicans jersey; it aimed to support the surrounding community in every way possible. This includes funding local youth and high school sports programs, organizing refurbishment efforts, and contributing to educational initiatives. For instance, NewAge’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity will play a critical role in helping build and improve the lives of those residing in underserved communities in Louisiana and the neighbouring state of Mississippi.
“We have always aligned ourselves and always believed that our business should have some community give-back aspect to it,” said Shah.
“Any opportunity to give back to people who need it is the least a company can do.”
“We’ve talked about working with underserved high schools to redo their locker rooms,” said Webb. “A lot of the garage equipment can really carry over into a locker room space pretty easily.”
“In Mississippi, hospital systems aren’t as well-equipped, so improving spaces like doctor’s locker rooms and lounges can make a big difference in their comfort during shifts. These are the types of community initiatives we’ll continue to grow.”
Just a few months into the partnership, NewAge has already established its presence at the Pelicans' home arena, the Smoothie King Center, where fans and workers alike can experience the products firsthand and, if lucky, take some home for free.
“We’re redoing the patio area outside of the Smoothie King Center [for ticket holders]... we’re putting our outdoor furniture and outdoor kitchen cabinetry in there for the local company that does all the cooking and providing of the food [in the arena],” said Ross.
“We give away a performance grill at every single home game. There’s a contest between timeouts where [fans] have a bean bag, and they have to throw it into a barbecue grill from a certain distance, and if they make a certain amount of shots, they get a free grill.”
Evaluating the success of a long-term strategic partnership in the early stages can be unclear. Discussions surrounding community initiatives are still in the development stage, and it will take time before the two organizations can effectively begin implementing their plans. The Pelicans have found a partner in NewAge that fits hand in glove with their efforts to engage local demographics and connect with the traditions of the NOLA area, and will rely on specific key performance indicators and research to determine whether the partnership is enhancing brand awareness.
“We work with Wakefield Research Partners, who measure the impact of our partnerships,” said Webb. “They assess whether the partnership builds fan loyalty, improves perceptions of the brand, and creates advocates over time through key indicators in a longitudinal study.”
However, NewAge is “already seeing an uptick” in brand awareness, which is helping the company gain credibility in its respective marketplace.
“We’ve already started to see recognition of our brand increase this year compared to last year,” said Shah. “The other thing that comes with this partnership is the business connections and relationships that can be formed from this.
“Being a smaller company that didn’t really have much brand awareness, it became very difficult for us to talk to other bigger companies and do co-marketing campaigns or partnerships, but this partnership with the Pelicans has unlocked that for us. Over 100 businesses have contacted us to do something with them within the first two months of the partnership.”
“We deal with a lot of suppliers both within the U.S. and Canada, but also internationally as well,” said Spano. “We have to prove ourselves to our suppliers as much as we do our customers. So when an international supplier wants to partner with us, having that legitimacy of working with an NBA team definitely helps because there’s a sense of familiarity there.”
While most brand sponsorships in the sports world rarely extend beyond the stitches of a team’s jersey, NewAge’s deeper ties forged in the heart of Louisiana’s culture promise to leave a lasting legacy – blending business with genuine community impact in a way that resonates far beyond a gravity-defying Zion Williamson slam dunk.
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