3 Marketing Lessons from NCAA March Madness

Marketing teams around the country should take a look at the NCAA March Madness tournament and study some marketing lessons. A mere college basketball tournament is one of the most successful marketing stories in history.

The tournament, which caps off the men's college basketball season for NCAA teams, has grown massively over the years; it is now shown on multiple networks such as: CBS, TNT, Turner Sports, and TruTV), it is broadcast over numerous radio stations, and even has its own channel (March Madness on Demand) and apps for mobile devices.

We won't even get into all the games that get streamed online.

In terms of popularity, it ranks 2nd in viewership, behind the NFL Super Bowl but ahead of the NBA & MLB playoffs.

Our LA creative marketing team was curious, how did the NCAA turn this tournament into a powerhouse?

One way they accomplished this was to give the tournament a memorable name. Not as many people would think of a tournament called, "NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament" as exciting as something called, "March Madness". In addition to the tournament's name, there are clever names for the different rounds: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and Final Championship.

These names are fun to say in word-of-mouth marketing, social media, and advertising. The successful advertising and WOM marketing has led to people chattering about the tournament every year, creating bracket pools with friends and at the office and even host parties.

Another way they increased the popularity of the tournament has been from utilizing internet marketing and social media marketing. To compliment their efforts with TV and radio ads, NCAA posted content on sites like Yahoo!, CBS, ESPN, and other sites. To engage with the fans, which is important in any marketing campaign, NCAA turned to social media sites like:

• Facebook: The tournament has around 200k likes. 
• Twitter: Every year, the tournament trends on Twitter and garners around 3 million tweets during the month of March. 
• YouTube: People love turning to YouTube to view highlights and other aspects of the games. Each year, the site has about 26k searches (since 2011). 

In each of these, brands capitalize on the popularity of the tournament with their own March Madness tailored content. 

So what quick lessons can we learn? 

1. Have a memorable name, slogan, & logo (branding)
2. Study your target market's needs & wants
3. Have interactive content, contests, and displays
4. Make it easy for the media to talk about you via press releases, guides, and newsletters

Does your business want to gain success like the NCAA tournament or does it want to create content that coincides with the tournament? Then email Integraphix and see what our Los Angeles marketing agency can do for you!