Once the shine wears off of the brackets for March Madness, brand partners and media have to begin the search to find out what are the best and what are the most effective ways of telling the fun stories away from the games. Two examples showed up this weekend. First on the access side, Multichannel News’ Mike Reynolds gives the casual fan an inside look at CBS on Day one of the tournament. Traditionally, media come into CBS headquarters to watch the first day of games and get the insiders view on all the elements the network has in store for the event, and those stories are usually told by various media throughout the first weekend and into week two. However CBS gave Reynolds the chance to write about the experience of being around inside for day one, an event which gives the fans and those in the industry on the brand side a good feel for what the network can out together, from broadcasting to messaging, for the complete broadcast of the field of 64. Good all access piece. Then on the fun activation side, Sarah Talalay in the Sun Sentinel goes into detail about the local Dunkin Donuts promotion, which has its own Sweet 16 of 64 different flavored dounuts which will play down by fan vote and sales into an eventual final four. It is a good way for the local sales corps to tie into March Madness and create some fun for its customers, and even do a little field testing of popular flavors. Again nothing too over the top, but a fun, low cost and effective way to grab the casual consumer and tie it to the brand around a major sporting event. Two good moves by two groups looking to keep the flow going with different ideas for media access and promotion.
Some other good reads…Terry Lyons blog has a good piece on Coach K clarifying his disappointment that President Obama pick North Carolina and not Duke..good backpedaling by the Duke coach…Baseball Digest.com has a good read about Netherlands baseball, its history and its future…and si.com's Jeff Pearlman has a great piece on an Orthodox Jewish undefeated boxer looking for a breakthrough bout…
