Nav Bha­tia, the Toron­to Rap­tors’ offi­cial Super­fan, is a big pro­po­nent of uti­liz­ing extreme fan­dom as a cheap mar­ket­ing tool. He also advo­cates reach­ing out to dif­fer­ent com­mu­ni­ties, such as young fans and fans from immi­grant pop­u­la­tions, to help cre­ate gen­er­a­tions of future super­fans.

It’s safe to say Nav Bha­tia real­ly likes the Toron­to Rap­tors.

Car deal­er­ship own­er by day, Bha­tia has also offi­cial­ly served as the Rap­tors’ “Super­fan” since 1998.

“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t wom­an­ize – I Rap­tor­ize,” Bha­tia said dur­ing a recent Adver­tis­ing Week pan­el.

Bha­tia is the first one to arrive at Rap­tors games and the last one to leave. He’s nev­er been late to a game or missed a game. In fact, he said he won’t attend a wed­ding, funer­al, or birth­day par­ty dur­ing bas­ket­ball sea­son.

“For me, bas­ket­ball is every­thing,” Bha­tia said. And that holds true so much so that his entire sched­ule revolves around games dur­ing the NBA sea­son – and not, say, his busi­ness or wife.

“I still think my wife is the very smart one,” Bha­tia said. “She hasn’t giv­en me a choice between the Rap­tors or the mar­riage because I think she knows the answer.”

Bha­tia described his com­mit­ment to the Rap­tors as an addic­tion, cit­ing a recent inter­view with the New York Times in which the reporter likened him to an addict who spends $300,000 a year on his habit.

And, in Bha­tia, the Rap­tors have found a pow­er­ful mar­ket­ing asset. For years, the team has used Bha­tia and his super fan­dom to help con­nect with the South Asian com­mu­ni­ty in the Toron­to area. And, Bha­tia said, oth­er teams and brands should fol­low the Rap­tors’ lead because he’s cer­tain­ly not the only poten­tial fan with dis­pos­able income.

“I believe the South Asians are being ignored. They’re not on the radar,” Bha­tia said. “So I have to salute the Rap­tors, which use super­fans to make more fans, which is the cheap­est way. Rather than spend­ing mon­ey on mar­ket­ing, you make sure your sol­dier goes out [and recruits].”

Bha­tia said the Rap­tors have giv­en him an oppor­tu­ni­ty to show­case his com­mu­ni­ty and cel­e­bra­tions for var­i­ous Hin­du and Sikh fes­ti­vals, which include bring­ing thou­sands of under­priv­i­leged chil­dren to games.

“These kids after 15 years, they come and buy tick­ets,” Bha­tia said. “The go out and love the sport and buy tick­ets.”

In oth­er words, tap­ping in to young fans can help cement legions of future super­fans.

The same is true of immi­grant pop­u­la­tions.

Bha­tia said the Rap­tors do a great job of reach­ing out to new pop­u­la­tions arriv­ing in the Toron­to area and are able to help new arrivals feel more at home while also ensur­ing a pas­sion­ate and more diverse fan base.

“It’s not just, ‘Let them come,’” Bha­tia said. “No, they’re reach­ing out to us.”

This has not gone unno­ticed by oth­er teams.

Bha­tia said he has also con­nect­ed with the Brook­lyn Nets, whose direc­tor of pub­lic rela­tions came to him for help con­nect­ing to the 2 mil­lion South Asians in the New York area.

“The Rap­tors have done a hell of a job,” Bha­tia said. “I wish oth­er teams would do that. We have mon­ey to spend on sports. You just have to reach out to us. It will get repeat­ed.”

Coin­ci­den­tal­ly, the con­nec­tion has had an added advan­tage for Bha­tia as well.

“I do take care of a lot of Rap­tors play­ers with trans­porta­tion needs,” he added.

How do you think brands can bet­ter uti­lize their most pas­sion­ate fans and/or cre­ate new gen­er­a­tions of fans?