Top 40 distributor Bensussen, Deutsch & Associates (BDA, asi/137616) has announced a five-year sports merchandising partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA).

As the preferred premiums supplier of the NBA, BDA will supply promotional merchandise for all NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and NBA Developmental League (NBA D-League) teams as well as league and team sponsors.

“We are so excited and proud to partner with the National Basketball Association,” said Jay Deutsch, CEO and co-founder of BDA. “The NBA is an iconic brand, and we’re committed to helping both grow and protect its stellar legacy. We’re thrilled the league chose to formalize the relationship and name BDA its Preferred Premiums Supplier. We look forward to supporting the NBA’s goals by helping connect more fans to basketball through the power of merchandise.”

BDA’s Merchandise Agency model includes campaign strategy, ideation, product development, fulfillment and distribution, and business intelligence. Merchandise programs for the NBA and its properties will incorporate in-arena promotions, out-of-arena sponsor activations, community relations programs, season ticket holder gifting, in-store displays and Point of Sale enhancers. BDA has also invested in the NBA partnership by hiring Christie Feliz and Stephen Koplan as national account managers and Lauren Vincent as account manager.

In the past, BDA has featured promotions such as 75,000 seat cushions at the Super Bowl, enough orange mustaches for a Denver Broncos game to set a Guinness World Record, and 43,000 red white and blue T-shirts to assemble an American flag at the MLB All-Star Game.

"Fans can expect fun giveaways including bobbleheads, rally towels, thunder sticks, T-shirts and headphones, to name a few," Deutsch said. "In addition to fan giveaways, BDA will also create promotions for the All-Star Game, NBA clubs, out-of-stadium promotions and season ticket holder gifting."