NCAA corporate champion Capital One is back with a multiplatform activation that puts the ‘mad’ into March Madness with a marketing blitz once again fronted by ambassadors Charles Barkley, Samuel L Jackson, Spike Lee, Magic Johnson, Jennifer Garner and Jim Nantz and which this year includes a special guest appearance from Dionne Warwick. The campaign – developed GSD&M, plus a team at Warner Bros Discovery Live Events and an on-site team at 160/90 – spans TV, social, digital, OOH in-arena signage and on-site activations.
Objective
The aim of the partnership is to solidify the brand’s position as standing out in the financial space and offering something slightly different – both in terms of the brand and its services and products – from of rivals in the category through entertaining and engaging campaigns featuring well known celebrities, musicians and athletes all enjoying March Madness just like millions of fans.
The NCAA Men’s and Women’s tournaments last more than three weeks and Capital One’s objective is to the dominant brand during this period by breaking through the clutter and producing memorable and fun work.
Activation
The 2024 campaign, created with agency GSD&M, is spearheaded by a series of comic commercials airing across national TV – including running across March Madness broadcast partners CBS, TNT, TBS, truTV for the Men’s Tournament, plus ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC for the Women’s Tournament – as well as running on owned and paid digital and social platforms.
Capital One, one of three primary ‘March Madness Live’ presenting partners alongside AT&T and Coca-Cola, will run the campaign throughout both the men’s and women’s tournaments from 18 March to 8 April. Marking 14 years as an official NCAA sponsor, the 2024 marketing reminds fans what March is for.
The 2024 crazy creative includes turning Barkley into the captain/pilot of the ‘Chuck Blimp’ flying the ambassadors to the men’s Final Four in Phoenix, seeing Johnson run a ‘Magic Mart’ convenience store selling an endless supply of March Madness goods and hoops analyst Nantz commentating on the lives of Barkley, Jackson and Lee (rather than on the hoops).
A 60-second anchor ad, titled ‘That’s What March Is For’ see Capital One bring all of its endorsers together in a ‘We Are The World’ recording session scenario where Dionne Warwick’s classic ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ is re-imagined for March Madness.
The other spots all come in 30- and 15-second versions.
Working with creative agency GSD&M, plus Warner Bros Discovery Live Events and a team at 160/90, the TV and online ads are also backed by plenty of social support pieces. These social components are essentially social-first extensions of the TV ideas turned into real-time content and engagement pieces.
Plus, to further extend the friendly rivalry between one-stop branded March Madness shops ‘Magic Mart’ and ‘Chuck Stop’, Capital One hosted a TikTok-first merch sweepstakes offering fans will have the chance to visit a custom micro-site via social where they can instantly win swag to rep their favorite shop.
Plus, throughout the tournaments, fans can also enter a list-building contest to win branded hats, T-shirts or tunnel-fit-worthy jackets.
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Plus Capital One has a major brand presence on the ground in-arena and on-court at the Men’s Final Four and Women’s Final Four host sites:
Men’s Final Four FanFest Presented by Capital One at the Phoenix Convention Center (5 – 8 April).
Women’s Final Four Tourney Town presented by Capital One at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland (4 – 7 April).
The trio of top tier sponsors are also presenting partners for ‘The Men’s March Madness Music Festival in Hance Park presented by AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola’, ‘The Capital One JamFest’ on 7 April (with Mumford & Sons, The Black Keys, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and Leon Bridges).
“As a brand, we look for moments in culture, like the NCAA Tournament, where we can connect and create something memorable and entertaining. Our cast of fan favorites helps us make those connections with audiences through truly fun work that we are always very excited to share.”
Capital One Chief Brand Officer Marc Mentry
“Only Capital One can bring this cast together for this moment. So every year our goal is to raise the bar and ensure that we are adding to the fan viewing experience. We see this work as an extension of the entertainment and excitement of the games, and that’s why fans look forward to it.”
GSD&M Group Creative Director Ryan Carroll
Over recent years, Capital One marketing has focused partly on connecting with consumers through fresh, slightly left-field work that taps into cultural moments which aren’t typical of the banking and finance space and the NCAA tie-up is one such moment.
The brand’s long-running comic series of March Madness commercials with Barkley, Jackson and Lee (who also directs) dates back to 2015: although the finance brand skipped 2020 when the tournaments were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Check out previous iterations from 2023, 2022 and 2021.