March Madness 2014

March Madness is officially under way as 64 men's college basketball teams battle for the championship. This year's tournament has already created a lot of noise due to early upsets of the high seed teams. With the Sweet 16 round coming up, 6 teams of 3-seed or higher have been eliminated already. Also, dreams of winning Warren Buffett's $1 billion reward for the perfect bracket have been shattered: no perfect bracket remains in the pool.

Last year, some savvy marketers digitally linked their brands to the tournament without paying huge amounts towards sponsorships or in-game advertising. Advertising and sponsorship costs can be extremely high: a 30-second ad during the men's championship game can reach $1.4 million and one major company spent $35 million toward sponsorship.

Pizza Hut offered fans a coupon for a free one-topping medium pizza if all four 1-seed teams reach the Final Four in Atlanta. Spam posted YouTube videos to target college basketball fans on social media. Hooters also particpated in the marketing madness, and offered downloadable deals that include free fried pickles.

March Madness generated more than $1.15 billion in ad revenues in 2013, and 2014 is expected to easily top that figure. Marketers believe that it is a market that is "continuing to grow with no signs of peaking." This year, companies are debuting new ads featuring sports celebrities, designing new apps, and giving away free food to attract fans and customers.

 Papa John's ad with CBS Sports sportscaster Jim Nantz

Burger King 2-for-$5 ad with NBA legend Chris Webber

Something else that I've observed so far, is that CBS Sports, which is broadcasting the tournament with
Turner Sports, is doing a stellar job with online on-demand coverage, website management, and social media. CBS Sports is offering HD live coverage of every game of the tournament on its website. The coverage is free to cable and satellite customers. Also, its website offers full highlights and in-depth analysis videos and articles. I was very impressed with the overall quality of the website and especially the live coverage of the games in HD.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/17/march-madness-final-four-pizza-hut-spam-hooters/1987889/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/13/march-madness-ncaa-mens-basketball-championship-final-four/6341865/

CBS Sports Facebook page

CBSSports.com