The NCAA National Tournament is the biggest event in collegiate sports, and it presents a terrific opportunity for campus marketing campaigns. Selection Sunday is March 13, but a lot of brands will be sitting out of the Big Dance for various reasons:

  • They assume that spring break gets in the way of a successful campus campaign
  • The potential for associations with alcohol scares them off
  • They don’t see the on-campus marketing potential for an off-campus event

Yet March Madness is the perfect time to invest in a campus marketing campaign. Here are five reasons you should engage in on-campus marketing during the NCAA Tournament.

1) Team Spirit Is at an All-Time High

If your college is in the tournament, it doesn’t matter what you think of basketball—for the month of March, you’re a fan. Campus-wide camaraderie is at an all-time high, and team solidarity pervades throughout the student body.

College students are looking for anything that supports their team, and they’re clamoring for swag. It’s a perfect time to co-brand items like t-shirts, indoor basketball hoops, posters, or water bottles. Pass out brackets with your logo and host campus bracket parties where you award swag for best bracket predictions.

2) Students Are Congregating in Large Groups

There’s no time like March Madness to find large gatherings of students that are pumped up for a good time. It’s the perfect set of conditions for engaging people in-person with your brand.

Finding large groups on game day should be fairly easy. Some of the hottest spots to watch the tournament include:

  • Sports bars (be sure to limit your campaign to the legal drinking age only)
  • Off-campus housing
  • Campus student centers
  • Viewing events at the arenas of universities in the tournament

3) You Know Exactly What’s Happening, When

For schools that are in the tournament, the game schedule will dictate students’ activities, so you can plan your campaign well in advance to hit those campuses at the opportune time. Focus your marketing around game day and tap into game day rituals. Plan pregame and halftime events that celebrate their team.

4) They’re Hashtagging Like Crazy

Social media goes crazy during the NCAA Tournament. In 2014, there were nearly 5.6 million mentions of March Madness—over 250,000 per day—and over 69,000 mentions of targeted brands during the event. #MarchMadness was the Number 1 hashtag that year, but MTV brilliantly came in the top five with its non-sports hashtag #MMM (Musical March Madness)—a bracket-style battle-of-the-bands contest. Many other brands that weren’t official sponsors got a boost in their mentions because they capitalized on the event in creative ways.

An innovative campus marketing campaign that takes advantage of social media trends during March could find itself staging a major coup during the tournament.

5) It’s Spring Break Season

March Madness is also spring break season. Students are thinking about vacation. Their minds are more open, less stressed out, and more willing to let loose a bit. Brands that take advantage of this opportunity can launch successful campus campaigns in March because they’ll have less competition with the academic demands of college life. This is a time when students are more available and willing to be engaged with fun experiences that brands bring to campus.

And remember: just because it’s tournament time, that doesn’t mean you need to make your campaign specifically about March Madness. Just taking advantage of the opportunities can create a huge win for your marketing campaign.

Selection Sunday is March 13. Will you be ready for the dance?

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Who is Campus Commandos?

Our college marketing agency functions to serve two purposes; to provide opportunity for college students, and to market products and services on behalf of brands to students on college campuses and universities across the United States. Contact us to learn more.

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