While we are still enjoying summer (despite increasingly earlier sunsets), we are anticipating the arrival of fall, as its commencement will reunite us with two of our greatest sources of joy and material for our newsletter—the regular season slates for the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association. We here at Promo Marketing are psyched for our local teams’ prospects, but we like keeping our eyes on other contenders, too, with the San Jose Sharks and Golden State Warriors certainly among the heavyweights, the latter having claimed three of the last four league titles.
On Monday, those California clubs announced they will be building their co-branding connection, which commenced with the Warriors’ decision to give away a jersey featuring a Shark bedecked in the Dubs’ color scheme, through a bobblehead that depicts superstar guard Kevin Durant wearing goalie equipment. If one is looking for a metaphor here as to the reasoning behind this recent decision, perhaps we could say that the nine-time All-Star has often “saved” his team on defense and has “padded” its offensive output through his sharpshooting skills.
Bobblehead Nights are back for the 2018 preseason 👀
9/29/18 — @Money23Green
10/8/18 — @StephenCurry30
10/12/18 — @KDTrey5Plan accordingly, #DubNation! pic.twitter.com/7zNQp2hb7g
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) August 6, 2018
Now that we have those puns out of our system, let’s turn our attention to a few more specifics. The Warriors made the Durant commemorative one of three they will distribute during their preseason slate, with teammates Draymond Green and Steph Curry also receiving the promotional tribute. His will hit the masses Oct. 12, when the two-time defending champions venture to the SAP Center, the Sharks’ home ice space, to face the Los Angeles Lakers, who added some guy named LeBron James during the offseason.
Since he and Durant—not to mention Curry, who has his own interesting entry in bobblehead annals—are among the game’s all-time greats, the venue, which fits more than 18,500 spectators, figures to be packed. The fortunate fans who attend the preseason finale will receive the homage to Durant and will hope that he can again down a team that employs James, as the former won the NBA Finals MVP award the last two seasons thanks to the Warriors’ triumphs over the James-led Cleveland Cavaliers.
From a promotional point of view, we find it awesome that the Warriors and Sharks are again teaming up to assist each other, meaning that we will try to overlook our opinion, which Sports Illustrated shares, that the Durant bobblehead does not, in fact, look that much like Durant. If anything, it more closely resembles Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving, but aesthetics aside, the item represents a solid opportunity for the basketball and hockey universes to unite. And, since the Sharks, following their Oct. 3 season opener versus the Anaheim Ducks at the SAP Center, will not return to their confines until Oct. 18, this could also make for a good way to build up anticipation as their home ice schedule really picks up in November.
