The first time I learned about branding, it wasn’t even called branding. Well, maybe it was, but I didn’t hear the term used. It was 1981, and my Math Analysis teacher, Mr. Gillespie, was talking about Coca-Cola and how they had used marketing and advertising to create an overwhelming association between their name and the soft drink industry. Federal Express has done the same thing. So many times I find myself saying “I’m going to Fedex something” when I’m really going to the post office or to UPS. In both of these cases, Federal Express and Coca-Cola, the companies did what it took to earn the branding reputation they now possess. Not only did they spend millions on marketing year after year, they execute efficiently, take care of the customer and continually look for ways to improve their product and service offerings. Based on this, one would assume the following formula to be true:
(Serious Commitment to Advertising) + (Quality Delivery of Product and Service) + (Customer Satisfaction) = Brand Recognition
Now consider the case of Organization X (no, that’s not their real name – the real name is coming up shortly) – one that should have the business school professors scratching their heads. Org X does not spend millions on advertising. Org X does not dominate its field. Other than a few select niche areas, Org X doesn’t even execute a real business plan. And yet, Org X is has exceptional brand recognition in its primary area of operation. What am I talking about? I’m talking about club basketball and the Amateur Athletic Union, or AAU. Over the past 10+ years, there have been articles written, players interviewed, and coaches presentations that talk about “AAU Basketball,” when in most cases, the basketball being talked about didn’t even involve the AAU.
I won’t explore the AAU history for this article. Suffice it to say, that if it weren’t for club basketball, and in particular, boys club basketball, the AAU probably wouldn’t exist anymore. But here is an example of what I am talking about. This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal recently.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204621904574248282288269744.html
The author, Kevin Clark, assails AAU Basketball for not properly preparing elite players for the elite level – collegiate basketball, international competition and for the professional ranks. Here is the most telling line in the article:
“An AAU official declined to comment for this article.”
Of course they have no comment, because they don’t know what to say. The truth is that we don't know if the players mentioned in the article played real AAU basketball or not. I doubt the players even know themselves whether they were even registered members of the AAU at any time in the last 4 years, or if their coaches were registered AAU coaches, or if the teams they played for were registered AAU teams. Yes, they were all playing club basketball. Do we know for sure they were playing AAU? No we don’t, which is why the guy at the AAU office had no comment. The last thing he wants to do is to go down the rabbit hole of distinguishing whether or not these guys were really playing AAU. Because that thought process begins to erode the very thing that has been a benefit to the AAU the past 10 years, which is brand name recognition by doing almost nothing to earn it.
Start at the beginning. The AAU is a non-profit organization that provides insurance to its members. While it has paid employees at its headquarters in Orlando, the AAU depends on a network of volunteers in each of its regions across the country to exist. While the rules of participation are very clear, AAU structure is very much up to the local volunteers who operate the various districts. For a tournament to be an official “AAU Tournament”, it has to be sanctioned by the National AAU office. Some AAU district leaders hold tournaments during the year that aren’t even AAU sanctioned. Actual AAU participation varies from region to region, and from age group to age group. Thousands of clubs sign up for AAU membership to get the insurance. There are tens of thousands of basketball clubs which do not sign up for AAU membership. Hundreds of clubs compete in AAU district and national tournaments each year. Thousands of clubs do not. There are many other organizations who do exactly what the AAU does – YBOA, and USSSA for example. So on any given weekend, in any given city in America, there are club basketball tournaments being run with teams playing and there is no mention of the AAU – none. This is especially true in the high school ages, where there are huge tournaments in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Houston and they have absolutely nothing to do with AAU. And chances are, other than purchasing a membership for insurance purposes, the club teams and the players playing in these tournaments have nothing to do with the AAU either. Yet, every time a journalist feels like indicting the American basketball development system, they simply use the term “AAU Basketball.” While it sounds better than “youth club basketball” or something like that, it isn’t fair to blame an organization that really has very little hand it what is going on out there.
Don’t get me wrong – I think the AAU is a pretty hideous organization that is far from exempt from criticism. I am not coming to the defense of the AAU. Truthfully, the AAU could actually be doing things that would cement it legitimately as the “brand of club basketball.” But it doesn’t do those things, and therefore, I’m still scratching my head as to how it became the public face of club basketball when really, it covers only a small part of club basketball.
Maybe I need to go to business school to find out. Obviously, I can’t ask the AAU. They will just decline to comment.