Chrysler’s Jeep brand and Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s Sunkist orange soda will be the largest marketing activators behind the Big East men's basketball tournament, which tips off today at MSG. Jeep is presenting sponsor of both the women's Big East hoops tourney at DePaul Univ. and the nine-game, five-session men's tourney. Accordingly, Jeep sponsored a N.Y. trophy tour and is doing a number of on-court activations, including a shooting contest, and will have some basketball games on the MSG concourse, Big East CMO Ann Crandall said. Sunkist is sponsoring a digital scavenger hunt for tickets and has tourney-specific retail POS displays in the N.Y. market. The drink also took out a billboard on 7th Ave. near MSG. Geico will have some on-court activation, including its ubiquitous Gecko spokescharacter. Nike has chairback branding at both the men's and women's tournaments. Marketing support by the conference itself has centered on a #MadeatMSG thematic, celebrating the tourney being at MSG since '83. That makes it the longest-running college conference tournament at one site, although technically this version of the Big East bought its name from what is now the American Athletic Conference in '13. The #MadeatMSG campaign has been pushed out through TV, digital and social, along with out-of-home ads.
