Capital One Promoting NCAA Sponsorship With New Viral Campaign

Watch Capital One's "Ivan Brothers" Viral Video

Capital One is "promoting its role as one of the top NCAA sponsors with an online viral campaign called 'The Ivan Brothers -- Big Men on Campus,'" according to Tanya Irwin of MARKETING DAILY. Capital One this week "launched the six-minute video on its Web site featuring the Ivan brothers, two mammoth medieval European men who are recruited to play basketball at the fictitious West Eastern State." The spot features CBS analyst Seth Davis and "special cameo appearances from some of the game's most visible head coaches, including Jim Boeheim, Tom Izzo and Tubby Smith." Capital One Managing VP/Brand Marketing Marc Mentry: "We'll be showing ads throughout the tournament for the TV viewing audience, while the Ivans offer branded entertainment that we believe will resonate with the hardcore sports enthusiast who tends to engage online." Irwin noted several 15-second "teaser spots feature college basketball coaches playing along with the joke." Capital One reached an agreement earlier this week with CBS Sports to become an NCAA Official Corporate Champion and they "will present the Capital One NCAA Champions Zone as part of this year's NCAA Men's Final Four onsite fan experience at the Indianapolis Convention Center" (MARKETING DAILY 3/19 issue).

WOODEN, BUT NOT LACONIC: USA TODAY's Thomas O'Toole noted Basketball HOFer John Wooden appears in a new PSA for the NCAA with the "familiar theme of how almost all the 400,000 college athletes will be 'going pro in something other than sports.'" With the "help of technology, Wooden appears as he was in 1972, in a team huddle giving a pep talk to athletes." His words include, "What you gained as a student will be just as important to you as what you did as a player." It then "appears as if thousands of students surround him." The idea came from a "collaboration between the NCAA's marketing department and its advertising agency," Young & Rubicam, S.F. (USATODAY.com, 3/17)