Four teams (and counting) have already punched their ticket to the Big Dance and championship week is upon us.
Yes, March Madness looms and Turner Sports and CBS Sports are teaming on a multiplatform marketing campaign to tout the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
The campaign features a full-length music video featuring the four-time Grammy Award- winning band Kings of Leon and their song "The Immortals," from their Come Around Sundown album.
The video (check it out here) debuted nationally across 5,800 movie screens on March 4 and will run through St. Patrick's Day. The video, along with a comprehensive cross-platform campaign, is designed to tout the tourney in its new expanded 68-team form, which for the first time features every contest live across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. The campaign concludes when Kings of Leon headlines the Coca-Cola Zero Countdown on Saturday, April 2, part of The Big Dance Concert Series during the 2011 Men's Final Four weekend in Houston.This marketing campaign is part of the 14-year, $10.8 billion agreement between Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA to air the tournament. The tourney tips of March 15, with TruTV's coverage of the "First Four."
CBS Sports and Turner Sports' extensive initiative includes online, spot cable, digital billboards, digital elevator ads, spot radio and print. In addition, promos will run on select Turner-owned networks, notably TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, HLN and CNN Airport and select CBS's shared resources, including the CBS Television Network, CBS Radio, CBS Outdoor and CBS Interactive, as well as local promos over 200 CSB affiliates nationwide.Throughout March, CBS and Turner also will use their stars in special messages to promote the tournament.
"We are proud to be working with Kings of Leon throughout the tournament and using their powerful song "The Immortals" as a theme of our marketing campaign and coverage," said Christina Miller, senior vice president of Turner Sports strategy, marketing and programming and a member of the 2011 Multichannel News's class of Wonder Women, in a statement. "Our extensive multi-platform campaign will help communicate to fans the exciting new changes to the tournament's coverage, particularly that every single game will be broadcast live nationally for the first time ever, allowing fans to choose which games they want to watch."
Noted CBS Marketing Group president George Schweitzer: "CBS is thrilled to be traveling down the "Road to the Final Four" with Kings of Leon and Turner. This unprecedented multi-layered marketing campaign maximizes CBS's powerful media platforms through television, radio, outdoor and online, combined with Turner's many great platforms, to yield the greatest reach with unprecedented impact."
Capping the overall marketing campaign, Kings of Leon also will headline the Coca-Cola Zero Countdown at the three-day free music festival at Discovery Green in downtown Houston. Other artists to perform during the Coca-Cola Zero Countdown and during the other two days of the Big Dance Concert Series will be announced at a later date. For the latest on The Big Dance Concert Series and all of NCAA Men's Final Four events and activities, go to NCAA.com/FinalFour.
