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“Working with East Goes Global has helped accelerate our international growth. What began as Chinese social media management has expanded into international All-Star campaigns, travel support for the 2025 NBA China Games, early-stage China partnerships, and now broader global expansion across LATAM. Their team combines cultural fluency with commercial execution, helping us generate over 100 million impressions internationally while introducing meaningful partnership opportunities along the way.” -Dan Costello, Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, Phoenix Suns

 

The Phoenix Suns are one of the NBA’s most internationally ambitious franchises, with a long-term vision centered on cultural relevance, fan connection, and commercial growth beyond the U.S.
 

East Goes Global has partnered with the Suns for over four years, beginning with China and evolving into a broader international mandate that now spans China and LATAM.

What started as localized social media management has grown into a full-scale international operating partnership covering digital infrastructure, content, live events, partnerships, and on-the-ground execution.
 

Our role is not advisory. We operate.
 

Across seasons, roster changes, and global moments, we’ve helped the Suns build a unified international presence that turns global interest into sustained engagement, real fan communities, and measurable business outcomes.

The Phoenix Suns

Summary

Since 2022, East Goes Global has served as the Suns’ international operating partner, owning end-to-end execution across China and, more recently, Spanish-language LATAM markets.
 

In China, the Suns have become one of the league’s most consistently high-performing teams on local platforms. During the 2024–25 season alone, the Suns ranked Top 6 on Weibo across 25 weeks, generated 130M impressions around the NBA China Games, and accumulated 79.8M total impressions and 16M+ video views during the season window.
 

We’ve supported five Suns trips to China, including the NBA China Games 2025, delivering social amplification, event execution, partner coordination, gifting, and content capture. These efforts contributed to 370M+ total impressions since 2022, +126K new fans, and a $3M+ partnership pipeline currently in discussion.
 

In parallel, East Goes Global launched and scaled the Suns’ Spanish-language channels in LATAM. Within months, these channels delivered explosive growth, including 900K+ monthly views, 400%+ month-over-month increases in reach and engagement, and rapid audience development around players like Devin Booker.
 

Together, China and LATAM now operate as a single global ecosystem for the Suns, powered by localized execution and unified strategy.

Suns China Games

The Challenge

Like many NBA teams, the Suns faced structural challenges when expanding internationally:
 

  • Fragmented international execution
    Different regions require different platforms, languages, and cultural approaches, often leading to inconsistent strategy and diluted impact.

  • Campaign-first thinking
    International growth is frequently tied to tentpole moments like All-Star or China Games, without always-on infrastructure to sustain momentum.

  • Operational complexity on the ground
    Live events, travel, gifting, partnerships, and content capture in China require trusted local operators with real relationships and executional muscle.

  • Untapped commercial upside
    Without a unified presence, international fan growth does not naturally translate into partnerships, platform support, or long-term revenue.


The opportunity was massive. The execution burden was heavier.

The Solution

Gorilla in Shanghai

East Goes Global built and operated a fully integrated international engine to turn the Suns’ ambition into consistent execution, scalable growth, and measurable commercial outcomes:

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  • Centralized international ownership and execution
    Established a single operating partner across China and LATAM, aligning strategy, content, partnerships, and performance under one unified system.

  • Always-on infrastructure beyond tentpole moments
    Built a year-round content, distribution, and engagement engine that sustained momentum beyond All-Star, China Games, and key campaign windows.

  • On-the-ground execution with local expertise
    Deployed teams across China to manage live events, travel, partner coordination, gifting, and content capture, supporting five Suns trips.

  • Localized, platform-native content and audience growth
    Transformed the Suns into a top-performing team on Chinese platforms, ranking Top 6 on Weibo across 25 weeks and generating 370M+ total impressions since 2022.

  • Integrated fan growth and commercial pipeline development
    Converted audience momentum into business outcomes, contributing to a $3M+ partnership pipeline while unlocking new brand and platform opportunities.

  • Expansion into a multi-market global ecosystem
    Scaled beyond China into Spanish-language LATAM markets, driving 400%+ month-over-month growth, 900K+ monthly views, and rapid fan acquisition around key players.

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The result was a unified global operation, turning international expansion from fragmented efforts into a high-performing, revenue-generating system.

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