Harden/Mitchell/Bryant & Trout/Luck BodyArmor Ads Leverage March Madness & Opening Day

Sports drink BodyArmor launched a new campaign leveraging US basketball fever around NCAA March Madness starring NBA superstars James Harden and Donovan Mitchell and directed by legend Kobe Bryant.

The official sports drink of the NCAA’s commercial sees Harden and Mitchell poke fun at old-school, outdated methods of filling out tournament brackets – from typewriters to rotary phones.

The players call for athletes to evolve all aspects of their game in order to compete – including their sports drink.

As well as running across US national television, the campaign also spans digital and social channels

View this post on Instagram

IT’S FINALLY MARCH Proud to be the Official Sports Drink of NCAA & March Madness #ObsessedWithBetter

A post shared by BODYARMOR (@drinkbodyarmor) on Mar 1, 2019 at 8:51am PST

and the spot is supported by a game called ‘From Downtown’ running on fellow tournament partner 7Eleven’s app

View this post on Instagram

FROM DOWNTOWN!! Download the @7eleven app to play BODYARMOR’s March Madness 3-Point Shoot Out The more threes you make the more store rewards points you can earn Link in bio

A post shared by BODYARMOR (@drinkbodyarmor) on Mar 16, 2019 at 1:27pm PDT

Plus, like so many other brands, BodyArmor also ran an official NCAA bracket challenge offering fans an opportunity to see how their bracket compares against BodyArmor’s all-star roster of athletes: which includes both Harden and Mitchell, as well as Betts, Andrew Luck, Mike Trout, Anthony Rizzo, Megan Rapinoe and more.

An initiative that didn’t last very long at all before all of the brackets entered busted.

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Want bragging rights over our #TeamBODYARMOR athletes? Enter our Bracket Battle for a chance to beat the best Hit our link in bio to join #ObsessedWithBetter #MarchMadness

A post shared by BODYARMOR (@drinkbodyarmor) on Mar 18, 2019 at 8:34am PDT

LAST CHANCE TO JOIN BODYARMOR’S BRACKET BATTLE

Enter now for a chance to beat #TeamBODYARMOR athletes

https://t.co/BtLjBXeQcr pic.twitter.com/0SOeh9Cm1I

— BODYARMOR (@DrinkBODYARMOR) March 21, 2019

Ultimate bragging rights are on the line… Join @DrinkBODYARMOR’s Bracket Battle and compete against #TeamBODYARMOR! https://t.co/dGFoNwn81Z pic.twitter.com/cWhFv7Ii7Z

— Dustin Johnson (@DJohnsonPGA) March 20, 2019

Hey, at least you still have THREE Final Four teams left @Blaney https://t.co/oMyhhS6HkE

— BODYARMOR (@DrinkBODYARMOR) March 23, 2019

31,885 brackets were submitted to the BODYARMOR Bracket Battle…

After the Round of 64, there are ZERO perfect brackets remaining#MarchMadness

STANDINGS https://t.co/Xu6YIg8KmJ

— BODYARMOR (@DrinkBODYARMOR) March 23, 2019

You hate to see this @JHarden13 pic.twitter.com/WClaKxxOtZ

— BODYARMOR (@DrinkBODYARMOR) March 22, 2019

The basketball themed campaign, leveraging March Madness, was followed a few days later by a spot starring baseball super star Mike Trout (and NFL QB Andrew Luck) presumably partly to leverage MLB 2019 Opening Day.

Comment:

What this campaign proves is that sports stars (including elite NBA players) and marketers are no better at building brackets than everyday fans. Every bracket goes and most sooner rather than later.

This is actually just the second installment in BodyArmor’s successful ‘Thanks’ campaign, which first debuted in 2018 and featured many of the same athlete endorsers who’s brackets appear in the 2019 March Madness campaign.