As March Madness sets in, it’s worth a pause to recognize the NCAA for the enduring marketing savvy they displayed eighty years ago when they first created the college basketball final series. Yes, originated in 1939, March Madness is celebrating its eightieth birthday! While not drawing the audience of the much younger Super Bowl, the final weeks of the college basketball season is a phenomenon that is clearly a focus of attention for a broad swath of both male and female consumers, both young and old. Since long before Fantasy Football, workplace ‘Bracket’ competitions have been part of what defines March, with 10s of millions of Americans filling out brackets each year. One recent study suggests that the average working American will spend an average of over 25 minutes a day while at work watching or monitoring the games.
How did March Madness, and the brackets, become such a phenomenon? It doesn’t hurt that not much is going on in March, sports-wise. Some might point to the strong social media marketing programs that the NCAA utilizes to encourage viewer engagement. And yes, they’ve done a good job with Facebook, Twitter and the like. But so have other sports marketers, and March Madness has been a hot event since long before social media, or even the Internet, were even around.
I think there are two key drivers that underlie the success of NCAA’s college basketball finals from a consumer engagement (and thus, advertising value) standpoint.
- The alliterations: Sure, it’s March Madness, but it’s also broken up into Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight and Final Four. These easy-to-remember and recite labels help TV commentators to talk about the event, and help both sports fans and non-fans to keep track of what’s going on and the current status of the event. The names are catchy, sticky and helpful.
- The bracket pools: Since long before Fantasy Football drew non-football fans into the competition, college basketball bracket competitions have pulled non-college basketball fans into March Madness. The nature of the competition, one loss and you’re out, means that even those who don’t follow the sport can win office pools! The fun associated with non-fans having a chance to beat those who’ve carefully weighed each team’s chances creates a dynamic that lures many a non-sports fan into the annual bracket pool competition.
For corporate sponsors like AT&T, Capital One and Coke, March Madness has long been a worthy, and pricey, venue for advertising. These illustrious brands are to be joined this year by Google Cloud in its first big advertising push, along with many other notables, including Buffalo Wild Wings, Acura and countless others across a wide range of product categories.
Besides drawing a large, diverse and engaged audience, its advertising value is enhanced by the multi-week span. While single-event TV like Grammys, Oscars, and the Super Bowl continue to have strong appeal to advertisers, there’s a lot to be said for the longer promotional window of March Madness. Advertisers know they’ve got a highly engaged audience that will tune in multiple times over a multi-week span, and thus can be presented with a more comprehensive, and persuasive, story than is possible to present within a single afternoon or evening.
So, eighty years in, March Madness continues to matter to advertisers, who will invest over a billion dollars in TV advertising in the event, along millions of Americans, who will wager an estimated $10 billion on their bracket picks. May the best team, and best bracket-pickers win!
[Source: March Madness Report: MiQ https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/332945/what-makes-march-so-mad-new-report-breaks-down-nc.html ]
Jeri Smith President / CEO
