Like many major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, the March Madness college basketball tournament is a massive real-time marketing opportunity for brands to connect with an engaged and largely predetermined audience. In 2015, Koeppel Direct data found that the tournament achieved 11.3 million average viewers and there was a record 80.7 million live video streams; 126 brands spent $1.163 billion on 30-second TV spots.
This year Yahoo and Lexus teamed up for a March Madness campaign promoting the new 2016 Lexus GS F -- a car that can go zero to 60 in 4.5 seconds -- by connecting sports fans on Yahoo with the auto maker across Yahoo properties. Lexus, for example, sponsored the Yahoo Sports' Tourney Pick'em, as well as created a custom branded game dubbed "GS F The Bracket."
According to Brad Piggott, vice president and industry lead of automotive for Yahoo, fans had an opportunity to pick which games would reach a combined 60 points the fastest for a chance to win a GS F-inspired luxury vacation.
He told Marketing Dive, "Every year, Yahoo Sports is the ultimate destination for millions of these sports fans during the Men’s College Basketball Tournament and this was the perfect timing for the Lexus campaign."
The effort led to 165 million total impressions, 23 million total page views and 1.3 million page views for GS F The Bracket. Other campaign metrics include a 15% lift in brand favorability, 29% lift in consideration to make a purchase, and each of those results were four times the automotive industry benchmark.
Breaking the results down to only men, the results were even stronger with a 22% increase in brand favorability and a 37% boost in consideration to make a purchase -- both representing six times the auto industry benchmark.
"We started with the goal of creating a truly unique experience around the new 2016 Lexus GS F, and we worked together with Lexus to make this experience a win for both consumers on Yahoo and for the brand," he said.
Promoting the game
To get the message out about the game, the team used display ads to drive a target audience of sports fans to the GS F Bracket website. Piggott said they also utilized pre-roll video ads and branded integrations combined with native ads target to the GS F audience to promote the campaign.
"Lexus was integrated within the 'Tourney Bracket Live' show on Yahoo Sports," he added. "The campaign drove impressive results."
The entire campaign included a brand study with Millward Brown that evaluated impressions, views and brand metrics such as favorability and purchase intent. Piggott said the Yahoo campaign was an example of an effective way that Lexus was able to connect with its audience throughout its promotion of the new vehicle.
"Yahoo Sports has a strong community of fans that love to get into the game, by following their teams and building brackets," he said. "We’re seeing more and more brands that want to create new experiences that really appeal to these fans."
One reason the campaign performed so well, Piggott said, was because it was relevant and resonated with the target audience. The March Madness-themed game was something the team understood was of interest to their consumers and created a "win-win for consumers and the brand," he said.
Leveraging real-time data
For marketers, what the campaign represents is an example of a brand taking advantage of an event with a clear fan base through a handful of targeted collaborations.
Ran Ben-Yair, co-founder and CEO of mobile programmatic platform Ubimo, told Marketing Dive in March that making use of real-time data for mobile ad campaigns is crucial to connecting with fans during the yearly event. One of the best ways to get the most out of the games is by thinking mobile and local, he explained, saying that, "By carefully tying mobile data (first party data, behavioral data and real time local data) with media buying, brands can precisely target mobile audiences at scale and serve them with relevant, engaging ads."
Lexus took advantage of the real-time factor of March Madness by creating content in the form a game that would likely appeal to college basketball fans who closely watch as their local teams compete on the national stage. By promoting the game through a few select marketing channels including display, video and native ads, and by sponsoring Yahoo's March Madness tournament fantasy brackets, Lexus was able to tap directly into and engage with Yahoo's vast sports audience.
The entire effort was very targeted and succinct, but it gave Lexus brand awareness around a new vehicle model with metrics that far outperformed the industry standards.
