A national campaign to build the National Basketball Association’s Latino fan base is underway like a fast break down center court.

National Basketball Association All-Star and Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford from the Dominican Republic has become the campaign’s ambassador, the NBA recently announced. It is also expanding its marketing efforts directed at U.S. Latino consumers through a partnership with Univisión and a new advertising campaign titled “Save Your Passion.”

Building on the success of the multilingual website “éne•bé•a,” launched in October of 2009, the site will now be carried on Univisión Interactive digital platform. The co-branded site includes blogs by Latino NBA players, video highlights, news and interactive fan content.

“It’s exciting to be a part of such a major effort by the league to connect with Hispanics in a culturally relevant way,” Horford said. “As a Latino player and consumer, I understand and appreciate the importance of being acknowledged and approached in a way that I can relate to culturally and emotionally.”

“We focus on cultural relevance as the foundation and driving force of our marketing efforts,” said NBA Senior Director of U.S. Hispanic Marketing Saskia Sorrosa. “The perfect example of how cultural relevancy comes to life is éne•bé•a. Rather than translate or tag the words “Espanol” or “Latino” to the end of our name, éne•bé•a allowed us to connect with Hispanic fans by leveraging a brand name this group already uses to identify with and refer to our league.”

Erick Orihuela, a psychology student at USF, seems to agree.

“I think it emphasizes the Spanish much more. Plus I think it’s creative. At least for me as a bilingual who is engulfed in an English-speaking environment, I think of acronyms in their language. So I don’t see NBA and think ‘oh la NBA in Spanish’ but seeing éne•bé•a does make me think of it in Spanish,” he said.

“I wouldn’t want it to be NBA Latino or nothing like that; éne•bé•a feels more natural,” Orihuela added. “I don’t think it’s underestimating the intelligence of the Spanish speaking community. Because it is a campaign aimed at Spanish speakers within the U.S., it allows even those would do not speak Spanish to become a part of it. Otherwise, it would be completely segregating us.”

Former player Felipe Lopez, also from the Dominican Republic, is joining Harford as a spokesperson for the campaign. Horford and Lopez will engage the league’s Latino fans throughout the upcoming season via grassroots programs, special events and unique consumer products, according to a recent NBA press release.

“Following the launch of last year’s éne•bé•a campaign, we saw significant increases in interest and consumption of our game among U.S. Hispanic sports fans,” Sorrosa said.

Sorrosa added, “Our partnership with Univisión Interactive, coupled with our extended efforts this season, allow us to further engage our Hispanic fans in an inclusive and culturally relevant way; while positively impacting our business, and creating opportunities for partners to connect with passionate consumers across multiple platforms.”

Viewership among Latinos increased 17 percent during the 2009-10 season compared to a year ago, and the NBA on ESPN Deportes was up 57 percent in unique viewers. On the digital front, Latino traffic to NBA.com grew 20 percent compared to last season, and numbers on éne•bé•a’s social networking sites continue to grow at an impressive rate, with Facebook’s éne•bé•a page boasting more than 250,000 fans, according to Sorrosa.

The league’s 2010-2011 Latino marketing efforts is supported by a new advertising campaign, entitled “Guarda Tu Pasión” to showcase the true passion that Latinos bring to the game, according to an NBA news release.

“Guarda Tu Pasión,” which literally translates to “Save Your Passion,” follows the 2010 Playoffs campaign entitled “Pobre Garganta” that featured Latino fans who became hoarse after relentless cheering for their favorite NBA team the previous night. “Guarda Tu Pasión” shows how Latinos store up their energy strictly for the NBA season.

Since 2007 the NBA has held annual Noche Latina programs. In March 2010 they took place in Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, New York and Orlando. The Warriors marketing department was not available for comment.