New themed commercials from Burger King and Dove Men+Care highlight a flurry of March Madness creative breaking this week from NCAA partners.
Burger King, the NCAA’s newest partner, came on board in October with a three-year deal to be the official quick-service restaurant. One of its first moves was to strike an endorsement deal with Turner Sports analyst and former Michigan star Chris Webber, who will appear in Final Four-themed commercials — both 15- and 30-second versions — starting this week.
Dove Men+Care, whose parent company, Unilever, has been an NCAA corporate partner since 2011, also dipped into the college basketball world for its new spot. Dove signed Villanova coach Jay Wright to appear in a 30-second spot about making important decisions (see related story), which will be tied to a Twitter initiative.
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Kansas’ Bill Self and North Carolina State’s Mark Gottfried are among other coaches appearing in March Madness promotions.
Using NCAA-related talent, tournament footage and March Madness branding has been an emphasis from the NCAA’s rights holders, Turner Sports and CBS. The two companies jointly market and sell the NCAA’s rights as part of their 14-year, $10.8 billion contract.
“We’ve got more themed creative than ever before from our corporate partners and champions,” said Will Funk, Turner Sports’ senior vice president of NCAA partnerships. “We’ve done a lot of testing and research on March Madness-themed advertising and they perform at much higher levels. That’s something we’ve shared with the partners, and we’ve seen a very good response.”
Ad inventory sold out
Advertising inventory for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on CBS and Turner was virtually sold out as of late last week. Executives said online inventory for “March Madness Live” is also sold out.
Sources said the networks are seeing price increases in the middle to high single digits for their commercial ads, with a 30-second spot in the Final Four going for $750,000 to $800,000. A similar ad in the men’s championship game April 7 on CBS is going for $1.3 million to $1.4 million. Sales are strong in the auto, telecommunications and banking categories.
— John Ourand
Turner and CBS won the NCAA’s rights in 2010, when the corporate sponsorship program had 10 partners, and have since increased that number to 16. They’re in discussions with another potential partner that could become the 17th by the time the tournament gets underway this week.
Many of those deals with existing partners were set to expire in 2013, but Turner and CBS managed to extend each of the eight deals up for renewal.
Corporate champions Coca-Cola and Capital One, as well as partners Lowe’s, Infiniti, Enterprise, Kraft, Unilever and UPS, were among those that renewed for either three- or five-year terms.
“We’ve been able to grow the business while also keeping partners and extending them,” said Chris Simko, CBS Sports senior vice president of sales and marketing.
Burger King and its Culver City, Calif.-based ad agency, Pitch, chose Webber to be the centerpiece in its new spot in which the 6-foot-9 former NBA All-Star blocks the view of others trying to watch the game. The burger chain also works with Horizon Media and Scout Sports & Entertainment on its sports marketing.
Burger King is working directly with Twitter for a social media promotion around #WatchLikeAKing. More than 500 fans who tweet with that hashtag will be chosen for prizes that range from $100 gift cards to flat-screen TVs and Final Four trips to Dallas.
“We look at March Madness as one of the most iconic sporting events, right up there with the Super Bowl and the Olympics,” said Eric Hirschhorn, Burger King’s chief marketer for North America.
