Transforming French Basketball Leagues into Cultural Icons
France is a powerhouse for basketball talent. After Canada, it’s the country that sends the most players to the NBA. Yet, its national leagues — Betclic Élite (formerly Pro A/Jeep Elite) and Pro B — don’t get the recognition they deserve.
That’s where we came in: to reposition these championships as cultural engines for French basketball — and turn them into emotionally, economically, and culturally valuable assets for the LNB.
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The challenge
The ambition was bold: to become the number one domestic league in Europe. Achieving that meant more than a rebrand — it required a deep transformation:
- Engage the entire basketball ecosystem, from clubs to fans, leaving no one behind.
- Define the unique identity of French basketball, beyond its visual expression.
- Create a virtuous cycle of value for clubs, sponsors, broadcasters, and audiences.
What we did
We adopted a 360° method, from strategy to design execution:
1. Audit & Strategic Foundation
- Evaluated the marketing potential of the leagues.
- Ran collaborative workshops with key stakeholders.
- Developed a brand platform rooted in what makes French basketball unique: a style that is tactical and paradoxical, blending the rigor of FIBA with the flair of the NBA.
2. Identity & Storytelling
- Created the tagline “The Elite That Reflects You”, both inclusive and aspirational.
- Built a brand narrative that opens up to wider audiences while amplifying the emotional depth of basketball culture.
- Designed a new logo: a stylized crown, inspired by the top-down view of the hoop — a symbol of merit, movement, and arena energy.
3. Visual Ecosystem
- Developed a dynamic visual identity system, flexible enough to adapt to contexts without losing coherence.
- Built a “fixed & flex” brand system: consistent, ownable visual codes that allow for expressive communication.
- Designed animated TV graphics to reflect the energy and emotional intensity of the live arena experience.
The outcome
- A successful reveal, widely praised across the basketball community and social media.
- Increased clarity in the perception and positioning of the leagues.
- A growing number of sponsors, with a noticeable increase in average deal value.
- Early data on TV ratings and arena attendance shows promising trends, with regular tracking underway.
Conclusion
More than a rebrand, this transformation turned the French basketball leagues into cultural expressions of the game. By merging performance with emotion, tradition with modernity, Betclic Élite, Élite 2 and the Espoirs leagues are now driving a new era for French basketball — not just as competitions, but as cultural movements.
What our clients say
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