A Marketing Agency in Spokane That Follows the Name on the Backboard

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A South Hill bakery’s name goes up on a backboard on a closed downtown street, and for one June weekend the court is not number 212, it is the bakery’s court, on the bracket sheet and in the app. Hoopfest names its courts after sponsors, and with most sponsors returning each year, the few open courts go to businesses that apply early and use the name well. A marketing agency in Spokane earns its fee in the months around that weekend. This page follows one court name from February to the weeks after, then what the work costs. Progression is based in New York, works with Inland Northwest businesses remotely, and offers on-site sessions on request.

A bakery’s name on a backboard

Think of a bakery on the South Hill with a good croissant and no marketing budget to speak of. Its owner sees that Hoopfest will name a court after a sponsor, and wonders what the name would do.

The honest answer is that the backboard is the smallest part. The name travels, and the plan is about where.

How a marketing agency in Spokane plans around a named court

On its sponsorships page Hoopfest says it does not number its courts. They are named, so players are on the sponsor’s court rather than court number 345. That wording lives on the backboard, the bracket sheet, the mobile app and a sponsor page on Hoopfest’s website.

Hoopfest also says 90% of its court sponsors return each year. It reviews returning sponsors first and then decides how many courts are left for new ones. Applying does not mean acceptance, and for 2026 the priority deadline was March 20.

What does a 90% return rate mean for a first time applicant?

That the open courts are few and the early applications get read first. A business that applies late or with thin artwork starts behind.

What does Hoopfest say a court sponsor receives?

On the 2026 page, a team entry, two tip-off party tickets and two sponsor garden tickets. Check the page for the current list before you plan around any of it.

Who decides?

Hoopfest does. No agency, this one included, can make an application succeed. The work is making the application, the artwork and the follow through as good as they can be.

One court name, place by place

The table follows one court name from the application to the following February. For each place it names what the sponsor controls, what to prepare and what to measure. Dates in the first rows come from the 2026 cycle.

Backboard art that reads from the far baseline

Players and spectators see the board from across the court. Use a short name, high contrast and no small print. If the logo needs a tagline to make sense, leave the tagline off.

The app listing and the bracket sheet

These carry the court’s name as text. Check the spelling in every place it appears, because teams look at the sheet and the app to find where to play.

The booth, if you are a supporting sponsor

Hoopfest says supporting sponsors receive a court sponsorship plus a 10 by 10 space in a primetime location. A booth has one job: give a passer-by a reason to stop and a way to find the shop later.

• Apply on the first day the application opens.
• Have the artwork ready before the application is.
• Spell the court name the same way everywhere.
• Name one person to answer Hoopfest’s emails.
• Keep every date on one calendar the whole team sees.

The first time applicant’s odds

Nobody outside Hoopfest knows the odds, and no one can promise acceptance. What a first time applicant can do is make the application easy to say yes to.

1. Apply the day the application opens, not near the deadline.
2. Say in two sentences why the business belongs at Hoopfest.
3. Send artwork that already works on a backboard.
4. Answer every follow-up the same day.
5. If the answer is no, ask Hoopfest what to do differently next time, and apply again.

Hoopfest’s page says returning sponsors are reviewed first. A new applicant is competing for the courts that remain, so early and specific beats late and general.

Is there a fee to apply?

For 2026 Hoopfest said no fee or deposit was required to apply. The court fee, if accepted, is Hoopfest’s own, and this page does not print it.

Questions to settle before you apply

A court name is a commitment to a year of follow through. Settle these before the application opens, so the answer to each is already written when Hoopfest’s inbox arrives.

Game day on forty five closed blocks

The Spokesman-Review reported on June 26, 2025 that 4,730 teams would compete on 422 courts that year, with about 250,000 people expected downtown and 45 city blocks closed. A sponsor’s court is one of hundreds, in a downtown that is a different place that weekend.

For a storefront near the courts, that weekend changes everything about the shop: who walks past, how they arrive and what they want. Plan the hours, the staff and the signs for that crowd, and match the signs to the court name so the connection is plain.

What does a shop near the courts need?

More hands, a shorter menu or a simpler offer, and a sign at the door that echoes the court. Streets are closed, so tell staff how people will arrive.

What if the shop is far from the closed blocks?

Then the court name does a different job: it points people to a place they can visit before or after the weekend. The next sections cover that.

What a digital marketing agency in Spokane does after the buzzer

The weekend ends on Sunday, and the court name keeps working only if someone uses it. A digital marketing agency in Spokane, or a remote team serving Spokane, plans the weeks after so the name pays off past June.

• Post the court name with a thank you to the teams who played on the court.
• Run an offer for one week, so people have a reason to visit now.
• Ask for permission before posting any photo of a player.
• Collect names for an email list at the booth or the register.
• Write down what worked while the weekend is fresh.

No player photos without permission, and none of children without a parent’s say. A thank you post with the court name and a plain message is enough.

How long should the offer run?

One week. It is long enough for a neighbor to hear about it and short enough that it feels like a reason to come now.

Where should the court name live online?

On the shop’s profile and posts, with the same spelling Hoopfest uses. A reader who sees it on the court and again online connects the two.

Sponsoring when your shop is not downtown

A Spokane Valley or North Side business has a harder job and a bigger reason to try. The name on the court is seen miles from the shop, so the plan has to carry people the distance.

• Give the shop’s neighborhood in every post that uses the court name.
• Put a map link or a short address in the booth or the post.
• Offer something that needs a visit to the shop, not a download.
• Show the court name in the shop window for a few weeks.
• Ask regular customers where they saw the name.

Our SEO in Spokane page covers how the same business gets found in search the other fifty one weeks, and our web design in Spokane page covers the site that sits behind the offer.

The sponsor’s year on one card

The card runs from one February to the next. It holds the dates that matter and one action for each, and it is the page to pin above the desk.

The wider work around a card like this is on our digital marketing services page, and our event marketing agency page covers event work beyond one tournament.

What does this kind of marketing cost?

Cost follows the scope: the application, the artwork, the weekend plan and the weeks after. The court fee is Hoopfest’s own, and this page prints no Hoopfest price. Progression quotes marketing work after a written scope.

How should a sponsor compare two proposals?

By the dates each one covers. A proposal that plans only the weekend misses the application and the weeks after, where much of the value sits.

A short history, and why it matters to a sponsor

Hoopfest’s own history page says the first tournament took place on June 30 and July 1, 1990, with 2,009 players on 512 teams, and that it has grown into the largest 3on3 street basketball tournament and family festival of its kind in the world. It credits about 3,000 volunteers.

For a sponsor, that history says the weekend is a fixture, not a fad. A name on a court has been part of a tradition that downtown has welcomed for decades, and the plan can lean on that.

Does the history make acceptance easier?

No. It explains why returning sponsors are many and why open courts are few.

Frequently asked questions