Case study 03 · Brand & channel strategy

NBA Social

Creating content at the speed of culture, with the big-brand rigor that backs up the community work.

LeLe Martin on the media row at State Farm Arena before an Atlanta Hawks game, laptops and the Hawks jumbotron behind her
Media row at State Farm Arena | Publishing live as the game unfolds.

What the work required

Real-time storytelling

Brand voice

Cultural fluency

Audience behavior

Talent and athlete storytelling

Channel-specific content

Cross-functional collaboration

Game-day and campaign content across Hawks and NBA channels: real-time publishing, brand voice under deadline, athlete stories with partners, creative and PR.

2
Brand ecosystems across Atlanta Hawks and league-level NBA channels
Daily
Content creation with the Marketing team, tracking trends and analytics
82+
Game days a season of real-time publishing, plus playoffs and campaigns
55
Hours in Sprout Social categorizing content and performance metrics

Inside the work

From the building

LeLe Martin next to the Atlanta Hawks logo history wall reading 'Home of the Atlanta Hawks since 1968' at State Farm Arena
Brand history on the wall, brand voice on the feed.
Instagram story graphic featuring Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin welcoming new hires to virtual onboarding
Executive-voiced onboarding content during the shift to virtual.
Atlanta Hawks tweet tracking Score for Scholarships donation totals, published through Sprout Social
#ScoreForScholarships totals pushed live after every game.
Atlanta Hawks International Women's Day post: the Hawks logo built from a mosaic of headshots of women in the organization
International Women's Day: the brand mark rebuilt from the women behind it.
Candace Parker quote-tweeting an Atlanta Hawks post about Trae Young deserving an All-Star spot
Culturally fluent posts that earn replies from the league's own voices.
Instagram story of live Hawks vs Kings game footage with the play-by-play scorebug
Cutting live game footage with play-by-play software, in real time.
Instagram story showing the Hawks social team on a video call while publishing to Twitter during a game
The social room: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and web, one game night.
Atlanta Hawks front office lobby with a backlit logo wall and basketball hoops hanging from the ceiling
HQ
“Working in professional sports taught me that the best content strategy isn't simply about what a brand wants to say. It's the intersection between what the brand needs to communicate, what the audience cares about, and what makes sense for the channel.”

Why it matters

The same muscle behind having strong opinions on format, channel fit, and what's worth a busy professional's time.