Lego, NBA team for slam-dunk

By Dave Gerardi -- Playthings, 5/30/2002 4:31:00 PM

New York — Lego and the National Basketball Association have reached a multi-year global merchandising and marketing agreement in which the Danish brickmaker will utilize league and team logos and player attributes in products, packaging and promotions.

The deal, which forms the cornerstone of Lego's new Lego Sports category, will include a Lego Creative Play of the Week feature on NBA.com and an interactive area at NBA All-Star Jam Session.

Lego Sports will be a "new growth category" for the company, said Lego Senior Vice President of Global Brand Management Henrik Poulsen. At the core of each brand, he added, Lego and NBA have "a lot of shared values: creativity, playfulness and learning by doing."

Poulsen told Playthings the product mix is still undetermined and expected to know more by the fall. A limited number of products will be available at The NBA Store in Manhattan and on NBA.com also by autumn, but the details were equally sketchy.

NBA Commissioner David Stern stressed The NBA Store is "a showcase rather than a place of exclusivity" and intends to aid other retailers not compete with them.

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