"March Madness Twitter Ads Tip Off After Buzzer-Beater"

From Advertising Age

Analysis by Kelsey Holmes in KIN 501

With each new year of March Madness comes new sports marketing plans. The 3–Week long NCAA tournament is attracting businesses to put forth their very best social media marketing plans. All these companies have goals to be the most creative, wittiest, and fastest to tweet. The ad-revenue of March Madness continues to grow year by year and is steadily catching up to major events such as the Super Bowl. Marketers are debuting new ad campaigns and doing everything they can to get their name in the mix.

This year’s biggest trend will be “Real-Time” marketing. “From now through the NCAA's Final Four weekend in early April, brands will attempt to score marketing points after nail-biting games and general basketball-related social media activity.” While some efforts will be real-time reactions to game events others will be pre-planned. All types of brands; food, insurance, and even hotels are all buying in to get a piece of March Madness on Twitter.

There are 4 types of tweets taking place.
Real-Time: As soon as games end, brands are reacting with witty sayings and tweets to become part of the frenzy.

Prepared: Multiple tweets prepared before games and then used based on what’s happening

Promoted: Advertisement on users Timeline promoting a particular brand.

Intentionally Confusing: Tweets about sports and the brand but not necessarily basketball.

Using March Madness to advertise is a smart and efficient move for these companies. A major attractor is the variety of fans that watch march madness. March Madness attracts fans of all ages and sexes as well as the dedicated and leisure fan. Along with variety of fans come a variety of platforms. March Madness can be watched on television, the computer, tablets, and mobile devices. That means there are 4 channels on TV plus their websites and the March Madness website and mobile apps. This is extremely useful because consumers can be reached anywhere and multiple times a day.

This marketing strategy is extremely relevant and useful to this course. Real-Time marketing is an example of how marketers must evolve to stay relevant to the consumer. Companies must continue to adapt to “stay ahead of the game”. The importance of staying relevant is realer now than ever and the window to react is now slimmer than ever. Companies must now hire professionals specifically for Twitter. This person must be creative and witty and always have a pulse on their audience. Because of this need companies now have to rethink their hiring and the experience of their employees. Also, professionals looking for jobs will find it beneficial to have social media experience. Overall, I think that Real-Time marketing will become more common practice and expand outside of sporting events.

"Beyond the Selfie: Is Snapchat the Next Frontier for Sports Franchises?"

From SportTechie

Analysis by Danielle Colassard in SRM 435 (section 2)

Snapchat is a photograph application that was created in July 2011. This application was created so people could not upload pictures they have already taken, but must take pictures of where they currently are. There are approximately 400,000,000 messages sent a day by its 30,000,000 users. However only 55 percent of those users use Snapchat daily. Snapchat became popular among teenagers and young adults within the past year or two, and now brands and franchises are using that information to their advantage. Knowing that teenagers and young adults use social media almost daily, brands and franchises have joined in and made those same social media accounts to get connected with the younger generation. The New Orleans Saints were the first sports franchise to join Snapchat. In December, the Saints had over 17,000 followers. In order to push content via Snapchat, sports franchises and brands must take a picture and post to what Snapchat calls “a story.” The picture they post to their “story” is only visible to their followers for 24 hours before it disappears. After they got their account, it was all word of mouth promotion for the New Orleans Saints. Snapchat does not have a direct link the Saints could post for their fans to see and follow, forcing fans to have to search for the Saints by themselves in order to actually be able to see the content the Saints send via Snapchat.

Sports teams are beginning to utilize Snapchat to appeal to their younger fans. Some teams are using the application to offer discount codes for game day tickets as well as team merchandise. Other teams are using it to announce a big reveal is coming from the team soon. Some teams are using Snapchat to have a new twist on scavenger hunts, or use it as a fun way to involve their team mascot. Where as others are using it to show content that fans would not get to see otherwise.

Using Snapchat to connect with their younger fans is a brilliant idea. With Snapchat being such a big hit with the younger generation, it is a great idea to use the social media younger fans are using. Using Snapchat for discount codes can be rewarding but also risky. As mentioned in class, giving discounts or gifts away may upset season ticket holders, as well as dilute the value of the product. Since Snapchat “stories” are only visible for 24 hours, the code should only be visible to the fans that look at the content daily. For professional teams it may be a little more risky than for a minor league team who are just trying to get fans to attend their games. Having a discount code for a Monday night game may benefit minor league teams in college towns or a town where minor league is the only team around.

Teams using snapchat to announce a big reveal coming soon, will get their fans looking at their content multiple times per day to see what is going to happen with the team. Using Snapchat for that purpose is smart because the team will have a lot of traffic going through their website as well as all of their social media accounts, promoting their name.

Franchises using Snapchat to show behind the scenes content that fans would not normally get to see is also a great idea. Fans love to see their favorite player in the locker room or some place they do not have access to see them. Fans also enjoy seeing their favorite players at the events they were not able to attend because they were stuck at work, college, or were not of age to attend the event. Using Snapchat can show those fans all of what they were missing.

Brands and franchises using Snapchat is relevant to this course because teams are marketing and selling their brand by using this application. They are sending content to their fans via Snapchat, a type of social media that not everyone has. It is a benefit to those that have the application on their phone. The content posted to the Snapchat Story is only available to those with a smartphone that allows them to download Snapchat. This benefits the younger generation because almost everyone has a smartphone, iPod, iPad with Snapchat access. Depending on what the team chooses to send out, they may gain interest of teenagers and young adults to want to work in the sport industry, helping it to grow. If a team sends out pictures or videos of event level of different stadiums or arenas, it may gain interest of students wanting to work in facilities. Snapchat can also be used as a promotional tool, providing contests for fans, giving incentives, as well as showing them when and where they can help with community projects or visit players for autograph sessions. Snapchat also shows what game days are like as well as the game themselves, getting fans to want to come back to the stadium to witness the atmosphere in person. Following other teams that are not necessarily a fan favorite, can show people how other stadiums are and what other teams are like behind the scenes.

As mentioned above, Snapchat is a great tool for marketing and promoting sports brands. Showing fans content they would not normally get to see is priceless. Seeing pictures or videos of their favorite player encourages them to come to games, buy merchandise or keep checking back for more.

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Analysis by Chelsea Weber in SRM 435 (section 2)

News about sports used to be limited to newspapers and television, but with social media taking the world by storm, there are unlimited outlets for fans to gain access to information about their favorite teams and players. The most recent social media to catch teams and fans attention is Snapchat. The first team to try out the app was the New Orleans Saints and both the fans and the team have found it quite successful. Snapchat is different than most apps in that the picture or video only lasts up to 24 hours. It is a more personal app than most in that the fans get a direct message from the team and only they can see the picture or video, unlike Twitter or Instagram where the text and pictures last forever and can be seen by anyone. Snapchat gives fans an inside and behind the scenes look at the team and players. This could potentially be a very positive and successful marketing tool if the teams use it correctly. Knowing that the app is used primarily by the younger generations, the organizations need to post things that appeal to that age group. Showing locker rooms, pre-game routines, off the field appearances, individual players, bloopers , etc., could gain the attention of potential fans, while keeping the existing fans. Teams can use Snapchat to promote team events, share team news, and even create challenges for the fans to take part in. All in all, Snapchat is another tool for teams and organizations to get their name out there and create more noise about the organization. It is a great way to market the team and could also create more sales, whether it be merchandise or ticket sales. Whether or not Snapchat is going to work or how long it’s going to last, teams should try it out and see what kind of response they get.

"March Madness evokes marketer madness"

From USA Today

Analaysis by Wyatt Johnson in SRM 435 (section 1) 

Our article talked about how big March Madness is and how it is a marketing mix that advertisers try to take advantage of. With the tournament being broadcasted on 4 different networks it gives companies an advantage to promote their products to potential consumers. March Madness is so big companies can reach different audiences through ads, giveaways, concerts, and rebranding hotels. I feel like this is a month that companies definitely look forward to because it’s a whole month of basketball and a whole month fans will see these ads multiple times throughout March. Companies are also using social media to engage fans as well. Companies like Burger King and Pizza Hut are using twitter to promote their special deals. I believe that March Madness is huge marketing mix for companies because they use all 4 phases of promotion which include advertising, publicity, personal contact, and incentives. All of these phases are essential to engaging fans and consumers. Companies are using different marketing strategies to get in touch with potential consumers even through cell phones. Some companies having different apps that people can download on their phones and that helps companies get various ways of promoting their message. This article is relative to the course because March Madness is one of the biggest events in sports and it helps companies display different ways of connecting March Madness with their product to help promote their message to potential consumers. Companies have to go through various marketing steps we talked about in order to be affective in sport promotion and sales.

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Analysis by Lindsey Tomasz in SRM 435 (section 1)

USA Today's "March Madness Evokes Marketer's Madness" is a short yet great article that focuses on how those in the marketing industry use this three weeklong event to promote their products. It is obvious that although March Madness doesn't exactly have the "heft" of the SuperBowl or the worldwide scope of the Olympics, it certainly is becoming a marketer's dream come true. Over the past few years, this event has brought in more and more ad revenue - more than some professional sports leagues - and the young, desirable audience and the great world of social media are mostly to thank for that. Marketers are doing all they can to take advantage of this; debuting both new ads and apps, hosting concerts, giving away free food, and even rebranding some hotels, just to name a few.

I believe that companies using March Madness to advertise themselves and their products is an extremely smart move. Along with the young audience, the different games throughout the tournament are shown on multiple different channels, which gives marketers more room to work with. It gives them the opportunity to really get out there and spread the word around for what they are trying to sell. There about four stations that are televising games, which also means that there are at least four major websites that can be used for advertising as well. I know from first-hand experience in the past week, that if I miss a game that was on my bracket, I immediately go to the website to see what I missed. I think it is also a great idea to be using former basketball stars in the commercials. Using these stars keeps a relationship between the ad and what the viewer is actually watching it for, and probably holds the viewer's interest more than other, say "regular", people. Although people don't necessarily watch this tournament for the commercials in particular, like they do for the Super Bowl, I think it is still a safe bet to be spending the millions of dollars for that thirty second commercial as long as they keep that "ad to game" relationship going.

This marketing strategy is very relevant to our course because it is a prime example of obviously promotion and sales in the sport industry in relation to a widely social and growing event. To name a few, we are taught about sponsorships, advertising, licensing, different incentives, and what really makes a good sales person/company in a business. Reading about these March Madness marketers has really put a lot of these into perspective and allows me to better understand what all goes into selling a product or service. It has been very interesting for me to watch the games and commercials and be able to go more into depth about how the advertisement was created to better fit the sport and audience and maybe how the certain sponsors/ads fit back into the college basketball aspect. Connecting everything back to the consumers is huge and marketing in this tournament has proven to be all about that, which is why there is no “peak” to be seen at all in the near future of this and it will only become more popular in years to come.