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Miami Heat and Misfits execs explain partnership, cross-promotion, rabbit logos and more


Following the announcement of the partnership between NBA team Miami Heat and esports organization Misfits, executives from both organizations have revealed some details regarding how the two teams will cross-promote each other.

Speaking in an interview with Yahoo Esports, Misfits CEO and founder Ben Spoont and Miami Heat executive vice president and chief marketing officer Michael McCullough talked about how the partnership came about, how the two teams will work together, and more.

“We’ve already incorporated the Heat colors into the Misfits to welcome them into the brand in kind of a seamless sort of way” McCullough said. “You will see us not only create their merchandise, but we will also give their fans a chance to engage with the Misfits, cross-promote those people both on Heat social media, Heat website, Heat broadcast. We’re going to kind of integrate Misfits into everything that we’re doing. Wherever you’re going to see the Heat, you’re also going to have an opportunity to learn more and engage more about the Misfits–especially on our digital properties.”

“And vice-versa,” Spoont added. “There exists an opportunity for us to also help extend the Heat brand in areas around the world perhaps where it’s not as strong, via esports.”

McCullough added, “We’re certainly not going to shove the Misfits’ brand down the Heat fans’ throat, they’re going to know about the connection.”

The Misfits will be promoted on Miami Heat channels, and vice versa. (Misfits)
The Misfits will be promoted on Miami Heat channels, and vice versa. (Misfits)

In response to a question about why the Heat did not feel the need to rebrand Misfits with a name that may be more aligned with the NBA team, McCullough explained that the team had taken a liking to the rabbit logo.

“We talked about that a little bit, but we both felt that there was brand equity in the Misfits brands. In particular the character, the rabbit. We really felt that we wanted to keep that. We all like it, we all think it’s both interesting and kind of iconic… we didn’t want the Misfits fans to think ‘the big bad NBA has come in and they’ve taken over our team.’ We want to seamlessly integrate and we want to keep all the things that are great about the Misfits and just make them better.”

McCullough explained how the opportunity came about, with interest initially sparked by other sports teams making moves into esports.

“We paid close attention to what was happening with the other teams and other owners that were jumping into the esports game,” McCullough said. “Once Ben came and made the approach to us, we knew it was an interesting opportunity that we had to learn more about… once we learned more about it, we really saw that there were great synergies between the two organizations.”

Spoont himself is a Miami native, and was not concerned about the oddity of linking European esports players to an American sports brand.

“We both see esports as a global form of entertainment,” Spoont responded. “These players, while some of them in Europe, and we also have players in North America and we’ll continue to add to our NA rosters, we see this as expanding the reach for the Heat and the Misfits both in NA and also around the world.”

The Misfits and the Heat are not the only sports-esports crossover to have made recent movement in the industry. Earlier this month Rick Fox’s team Echo Fox signed a slew of big-name fighting games talent, making waves in the fighting game community.