United Masters founder and CEO Steve Stoute and his Translation agency have been hired by the New York Knicks as brand consultants. Knicks hopes this move will help bolster the team’s brand. It already received some praise from NBA stars.
“Stoute’s been a friend for a long time. He does amazing work,” Lakers’ LeBron James told SNYÂ “Our beautiful league is always more beautiful when the Knicks matter and the Garden is jumping. I think it’s going to be great.”
This partnership even received praised from Knicks’ legend Charles Oakley, who in recent years have some shakey interactions with the Knicks organization.
According to an NBA source, the Knicks have hired a number of different consultants to help their brand throughout the past 20 years. But with the what makes this hiring different is that the Knicks wanted it to go public.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Stoute said that he sees a great opportunity in this new role as an adviser for the Knicks. “When the New York Knicks are right, the NBA is a better place. That is the opportunity.”
Stoute, who is a lifelong Knicks fan from New York, is coming into this role with the belief that winning does not cure all problems. Instead, good marketing will.
“Winning cures a lot of problems. Great marketing and exciting entertainment cure all problems,” Stoute said in the Bloomberg interview. “The brand has to be strong regardless of the final score. When people are hopeful that things are going to be better, and it brings excitement, all of a sudden that becomes the brand.”