Coca-Cola’s college sports-themed tagline this spring was “You Don’t Know Zero ’Til You’ve Tried It,” but fans certainly know who is the NCAA’s official soft drink.
More than 37 percent of fans polled in a sponsor loyalty survey conducted for SportsBusiness Journal/Daily by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment correctly identified Coca-Cola as the NCAA’s official soft drink, making it the most recognized NCAA sponsor in the polling. It’s the first time that Capital One, another NCAA sponsor, did not score highest in the survey’s three-year history.
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Avid fans responded to Coke Zero’s college sports activations with a 45% recognition rate.
Photo by: MICHAEL SMITH / STAFF
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Coke Zero was featured in at least two dozen ads during this year’s Final Four coverage on TBS and CBS. Its most unique activation, however, may have been its “drinkable billboard.” The 26-by-36-foot structure, concocted by Coke’s new advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather, featured a giant straw that shot the soda into drinking fountains for fan sampling at the Final Four experiential site near Lucas Oil Stadium, host of the tournament’s last three games.
A mobile extension of the campaign involving music app Shazam allowed fans to pour a virtual Coke Zero into a glass on their smartphones.
Those efforts followed Coke Zero being promoted in several spots during the college football season under the “Zero means it’s gameday” campaign.
Coca-Cola fared especially well in the survey’s polling among avid fans: 45 percent of that group of respondents recognized the company’s NCAA relationship, the highest such rate ever registered by a brand in the
three years of the NCAA study. In fact, only Coke’s relationship with NASCAR, which has averaged a 56 percent recognition rate among avid fans over the eight years of the sponsor loyalty study for NASCAR, has ranked higher when considering all league-soda relationships tracked in the survey’s history.
The Sponsor Loyalty series, which debuted in 2007, also includes annual studies of MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS and PGA Tour fans.
Coca-Cola in 2013 renewed its NCAA sponsorship, which began in 2002, with an 11-year deal.
Among the 11 categories tracked in the study, Coke, Enterprise, Buick, Allstate and Reese’s each enjoyed a second straight year of improved awareness levels among avid fans. Buick has seen a seven percentage-point improvement among avid fans since the inaugural 2013 survey, the largest increase of the more than 70 brands tracked each year.
Other notable findings:
■ Capital One ranks with Coca-Cola and AT&T in the NCAA’s corporate champions tier, the organization’s highest level of sponsor involvement. Capital One’s affiliation with college sports began in 2001, and it was the most recognized brand in the study among casual fans surveyed for a third consecutive year.
■ AT&T, whose Dallas-based global headquarters is not far from AT&T Stadium, site of this year’s CFP National
Championship game, was recognized correctly as an NCAA sponsor by 28 percent of all 400 fans surveyed, down 4 percentage points from last year.
■ Buffalo Wild Wings has shown the most stability in score among sponsors over the survey’s three-year history. Its overall awareness level among fans has ranged between 30 percent and 32 percent across the three years.
■ Each of the NCAA sponsors tracked saw its awareness score among casual fans decline compared to last year’s survey results.
Methodology
For this project, Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, through its Turnkey Intelligence operation, conducted national consumer research surveys among a sample of more than 400 members of the Toluna online panel who were at least 18 years old.
This year’s data was collected between March 30 and April 8, a period leading up to and continuing through the men’s and women’s Final Fours. In 2014 and 2013, the data was collected ahead of the Final Four weekend of each of those years.
Respondents were screened and analyzed based on their general avidity levels. Fans categorized as “avid” were those who responded “4” or “5” to the questions “How big a fan are you of NCAA basketball?” and “How big a fan are you of NCAA football?,” then claimed to “Look up NCAA basketball news, scores and standings several times a week or more often,” “Watch/listen/attend at least 20 NCAA basketball games per season,” and “Have a favorite NCAA basketball team.” Fans categorized as “casual” responded “3” to the same initial questions, then claimed to “Look up NCAA basketball news, scores and standings several times a month or more often,” “Watch/listen/attend at least five NCAA basketball games per season,” and “Have a favorite NCAA basketball team.”
When asked to identify official sponsors, respondents selected from a field of companies and brands that was provided to them for each business sector. Only the top-scoring companies and brands are listed in the results published here. The percentage responses listed have been rounded. The margin of error for each survey is +/- 4.9 percentage points.
Turnkey Intelligence performs research work for more than 30 conferences and schools as well as for numerous sponsors that are involved in college sports.
