March Madness is a Full-Court Press of Viral Marketing and Branding

How did your March Madness bracket turn out this year? Chances are it busted on Day One, along with 99.99% of the submissions on ESPN’s online platform.

But you didn’t have to watch the game -- or even care about it -- to get the results. That’s because hundreds of mainstream media outlets such as Forbes, People, CNN and NPR covered the bracket outcomes like they were multibillion-dollar Powerball drawings, and everyone across your office was probably filling you in on their wins and losses.

This media narrative, which is several steps removed from actual games on the court, shows how the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has become far more than an athletic competition. It’s a monthlong branding machine for engaging millions of people from alumni and avid fans to those who hardly watch sports at all. 

Here are three ways March Madness has succeeded in turning its basketball product into a viral brand event, and how you can do the same, whether your market is local or global. 

Making non-target audiences love your brand

Most major sports championships -- the Super Bowl, World Series, Kentucky Derby, and so on -- air in the evening prime-time television slots and/or on weekends. But college basketball’s marquee event tips off at noon Eastern on a weekday -- 9 a.m. for a large chunk of the country.

Normally, this would be a disadvantage because most people are still at work, but the tournament’s broadcast partners have leaned into the challenge. Long before it was the norm, they invested heavily in developing streaming access for computers and mobile devices that reach audiences who were tied to desks or otherwise away from television sets. 

The strategy has created a culture where instead of engaging in mass firings, bosses (including Warren Buffet) have embraced the disruption and created office camaraderie by endorsing office bracket pools and watch parties.

And the results are clear: This year’s opening weekend averaged over 9 million viewers across four channels. In comparison, last year’s NBA playoffs -- airing after work hours -- averaged 5.5 million viewers.

Making a lasting impression on non-customers isn’t limited to basketball, or even sports, despite events like the Super Bowl, which glue one-third of the country to the TV. Adam Pittman, the fourth-generation owner of Columbia Block & Brick in Hattiesburg, Miss., has done the same thing by having his Old English Sheep Dogs, Willie and Charlie, star in his company's TV commercials. 

While Pittman’s company certainly produces quality products at a competitive price, he says it’s the dogs that have helped expand his brand’s recognition beyond his traditional customer base. “When we go out to a job site, customers want to know if the dog is coming with us. But what’s really wild is when folks come into the store with no interest in buying bricks ... they just want to meet the talent.”

Competitors use your brand to boost their own bottom line

Having owned March Madness broadcast rights since 1982, CBS is synonymous with the tournament’s TV production. But there’s a lot more room under the umbrella -- even for corporate rivals like broadcast partner Warner Brothers Discovery and cable sports giant ESPN, who generate massive revenues of their own on the games, summaries, and ancillary activities like bracket challenges.

All three companies might be competitors, but they’re also intentionally aligned because March Madness is too lucrative to ignore. The CBS partnership with Warner puts games on three networks that would otherwise be unreachable. And because ESPN’s brackets often generate respectable headlines, it’s easy to forget that it’s also a sports journalism company that must cover its competitor’s programming.

Ultimately, ESPN and Warner have no problem supporting their rival CBS because they are drawing millions of eyeballs to their own websites and television programming.

This dynamic plays out on a smaller scale in small towns across the country as they create similar environments during holiday parades and community festivals. Local business owners understand that’s the time to see and be seen even alongside their competitors because they don’t want to miss the chance to stand out to hundreds or thousands of customers standing on the side of the road. 

That’s because parades are the March Madness of America’s small towns.

Generating star-studded media coverage 

You shouldn’t force a jump shot, and you can’t fake or force viral marketing outcomes. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and CBS took decades to make March Madness the cultural phenomenon it is today.

When your industry’s media covers your event, you’ve done something impressive. But when you have annual data showing that employers may lose up to $17 billion in productivity because of what you’ve done, your brand is far more than a product or service. And when major business magazines, health care industry trade publications, and local and regional newspapers publish stories about this workplace occurrence, you’ve gone truly viral.

And the best part of it all? The media coverage isn’t even one-sided. Everyone’s so hooked on being part of the March Madness brand that there’s even a whole cottage industry “reporting” on how employers embrace the event as an opportunity to build workplace morale.

Achieving March Madness-level of brand success doesn’t require reaching audiences of nine million basketball fans or 123 million Super Bowl viewers. All you need is a plan that drives revenue with your target audience and resonates with regular people who go to the annual Christmas parade or just want to pet your dog.

Robert Kuykendall is director of accounts for public relations firm Proven Media Solutions.  Republished with permission from Sports Business Journal.