By Nate Bristol
The words “March Madness” don’t immediately scream public relations. Like most sporting events, you can always count on brands, social media, and partnerships to make the NCAA basketball tournament more lively and enjoyable for fans.
It’s almost that time of year.
A great example of this is the usage of social media and websites allowing fans to make and post their own bracket predictions for March Madness. It allows for communication and participation while creating a very natural engagement between the fans and the media. The best public relations is the type that people don’t notice or doesn’t feel artificial. Ohio Edu says that there were about 39 million bracket submissions made on their platform, which were undoubtedly shared on social media shortly after.
While brackets are already a great means to stimulate engagement, there are also fun posts or publicity stunts involving players that brands can leverage for outreach as well. Derik Queen hit a buzzer beater in Maryland’s win over Colorado State, and Dairy Queen utilized the similarity of their name in an ingenious PR way. Four days after Dairy Queen did this, ESPN published an article about the release of a Derik Queen and Dairy Queen NIL deal. While brands aren’t always this fortunate in how similar their brand name may be to another player, the DQ example is one of many, thanks to college basketball’s NIL deals.
Speaking of the players, the way they handle themselves, and even perform, can be a result of public relations and interacting with the media. Between plays on the court, funny moments during media interviews, or however else players choose to gain media attention, there are a myriad of methods to gain publicity during March Madness. While not all of them end up with NIL deals with Dairy Queen, PR will still undoubtedly affect players and their families.
March Madness is something that connects people of all demographics and brings people together. Seeing how this tournament fills fans with excitement gives players the opportunity to shine and helps brands elevate moments and make tournaments more memorable. Whether it’s expected or not, public relations makes a positive difference on March Madness, and the famous tournament wouldn’t be the same without it.
