Photo by Jacob Rice on Unsplash
Is March Madness Expanding as an Advertising Opportunity?
Home Depot launched a March Madness campaign this month aimed at homeowners tackling spring do-it-yourself projects, joining a number of other brands showcasing campaigns around the three-week tournament.
Starring former Louisiana State University (LSU) and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, Home Depot’s “How to March Madness” campaign features content tying together basketball themes with common spring projects, including “How to Protect the Paint” and “How to Clean the Glass.”
Prior to launch, the home improvement chain struck a three-year agreement to be an official corporate sponsor of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
“The Home Depot’s customers are also big sports fans, and March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year,” said Molly Battin, Home Depot’s SVP and chief marketing officer.
Last week, the ad sales teams at Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS, which are jointly broadcasting all 67 games of the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball Tournament, predicted “record” advertising revenues this year. Interest in the games is seen as being helped by the explosive growth of legal online sports betting.
More and more, advertisers have started to consider March Madness as a viable and less costly major alternative sports event, compared to the hyped Super Bowl, that can reach a large number of viewers. Kantar wrote in a study, “The three weeks of ‘March Madness’ offers brands a center-stage platform for integrating themselves into the tournament through paid advertisements in offline and online channels, social media conversations, branded placements and experiential events.”
At the same time, advertising demand for this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament “has grown substantially,” according to Ad Age, following 2023’s record-setting event — including 9.9 million viewers for the national championship — and with the fanfare over stars including Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese.
Finally, the arrival of NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals, which allow college athletes to earn money as brand ambassadors, is opening up opportunities for brands.
Ritz retained 16 current college basketball players and NBA legend Isaiah Thomas as ambassadors to support the introduction of two new flavors to its toasted chips line. Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS brand is featuring six men’s college basketball stars in a March Madness campaign promoting its new men’s terry loungewear range.
A survey of 2,000 college basketball fans over the age of 21 commissioned by Tipico Sportsbook found fans expecting to spend 36 hours consumed by the 2024 NCAA Tournament across watching games, creating brackets, discussing the tournament with family and friends, engaging with online content, watching highlights, and placing bets.
Brian Becker, Tipico’s SVP of marketing, said, “March Madness is a cultural phenomenon unlike any other because anyone can be a hero; every year, new storylines captivate a diverse audience and define the fabric of the college basketball world.”
Discussion Questions
Should March Madness be a bigger merchandising or marketing opportunity for retailers and brands?
How does the tournament work as an outreach mechanism that’s different from the Super Bowl, Olympics, and other sporting events?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
John Hennessy
Retail and Brand Technology Tailor
David Spear
VP, Professional Services, Retail, NCR
The link between March Madness and spending is somewhat tenuous, but there’s nothing wrong with a little promotion linked to an interesting event which helps amplify the message. In the case of Home Depot, the period falls at a time when people are starting to think about spring improvement projects, so there is some logic to the timing. What retailers have to be careful of is overkill in promotion: constantly having events and deals eventually undermines their effectiveness.
Getting shoppers to visit retailers’ stores and/or websites is the goal, and given the growing interest and exposure March Madness offers makes it a good media opportunity for some retailers. And while March Madness doesn’t command the audience numbers of the Super Bowl or the international exposure of the Olympics, it’s growing fast and getting in early is a smart play for the retailers where the audience demographics match their shopper profiles.
March Madness continues to increase in popularity, exposure, and marketing potential. Unlike the Super Bowl which is one game, with coverage for about a week, March Madness lasts for weeks, allowing brands and retailers to truly have a campaign versus just a couple of commercials. It seems like more retailers like The Home Depot are getting on board, yet there’s still more potential as well for growth, and my sense is we’ll see even more activity around March Madness for the next few years.
March Madness is certainly becoming a more recognizable time period, and while not everyone focuses on sports, there are certainly a large number of sports fans who are aware and influenced by March Madness. So, with that in mind, it seems like an opportunity for businesses or organizations whose audience would also include those fans.
Should March Madness be a bigger piece of retailers/brands Spring Campaigns? You can bet on it! Any event that commands so much consumer attention should be leveraged. Wendy’s started this years ago and was able to make the leap from sports fans to their full range of customers. March Madness deals, again, not just for sports, are a good way to connect with shoppers and create a timeliness and even ugency to act. With regard to products, I would caution that they need to be targeted toward their own consumers first and not just be souvenirs.
There are few advertising opportunities when the advertiser knows exactly what the audience is doing when the ad is presented. Home Depot is a great fit for the NCAA audience. As is Ritz and other snacking companies.
If this is your audience, it’s a rare opportunity to reach them in a highly engaged state with a targeted message and a targeted call to action. Doordash would be an ideal advertiser to offer sustenance to screen captured tournament viewers. Food without missing a possession.
Live sports are an advertiser’s dream. Brands that rely on strong Spring sales and whose customers tune in to watch NCAA stars can consider tying their marketing to March Madness.
Record-breaking viewership among men and women create lucrative new opportunities for companies to get closer to crowds of passionate basketball lovers. March Madness marketing could include event sponsorship, athlete partnerships, merchandise, and themed content and retail media ad campaigns.
Compared to major global sporting events, the NCAA Tournament draws a smaller audience yet the fans are highly engaged. If fans sit through 36 hours of games, their commitment is tantalizing to brand advertisers that want to get in front of their eyeballs. Also, March Madness marketing is far more affordable than a $7 million Super Bowl ad.
Kudo’s to Home Depot on their advertising deal with NCAA March Madness. I was watching the Kentucky – Oakland game last night and saw several of the commercials from the likes of Ritz and Home Depot. BTW, love the Home Depot spot with Shaq ‘protecting the paint’. Very clever and so fitting for the audience. Unlike the Super Bowl, which is a very expensive one & done event, March Madness offers companies an extended period of time to run a series of spots that can reinforce a number of buying messages.
March Madness is a great opportunity for a meaningful campaign (vs Super Bowl which can often be a high priced random act of marketing) to connect with consumers over a few weeks when they’re focused on the tournament, brackets, and amazing stories that always emerge.
What I like about the March Madness opportunity is the repeat factor. This isn’t one-and-done. If advertising is to be affected, it must be repeated repeatedly. The NCAA provides that opportunity.
March Madness is becoming more popular each year. So, this is an opportunity for grocers who have not tied into this event with a promotion. Makers of chips and beer would be ideal partners. But the key to success is to tie in local colleges who have basketball teams in the tournament.
March Madness (MM) is an outstanding opportunity for advertising for a number of good reasons:
1. MM is a non-stop very fluid event. It’s one game after another, and very entertaining commentators in between games. Charles Barkley, love him or hate him, he is a magnet for viewership. By the way, I love the guy.
2. MM appeals to viewers nationwide because almost every region has a team in the tournament, or one close-by, or maybe a rival that viewers tune in to root against.
3. Gambling is very popular in MM, and that in itself attracts a high spending consumer base.
4. MM has a well defined beginning and end. This is great for advertising. Your cost is well defined, and so is your span.
5. Research shows that even people who are not necessarily basketball fans in the regular season, tune in for MM, and the audience is only slightly tipped in favor of men. Men and women, of a wide age range watch the games because the tournament is an “event.”
6. Brackets are a popular pastime and inspires people to watch the games.
7. Many people are lured in because the players are college students, not professionals.
March Madness is a better advertising opportunity than nearly any other event of the year. There is a ton of room or creativity, and for all the reasons mentioned above, the event offers better value than the Super Bowl, World Series, Kentucky Derby, the Masters, the Academy Awards, or anything else. Db