Even for the less than ardent basketball fan, it is hard not to get caught up in March Madness. For some universities, meeting fan expectations is difficult, for anything short of a National Title sorely disappoints. For others, simply seeing their college get into the NCAA tournament far exceeds their expectations.
The NCAA Tournament sets a huge stage for both men’s and women’s college basketball. Just getting into the tournament can raise the brand awareness of a university along with the social meaning for becoming a student, and often drastically improves college enrollment. Teams with a low seeding who surprise fans with major tournament upsets can see revenues rise as much as 18% the year following their tournament run, according to a study reported by Forbes Magazine.1
There are specific branding dynamics that drive this type of financial result. They include:
Salience – a major factor in determining how quickly a brand comes to mind when people think of a category.2 Research has shown, in every category, a strong positive relationship between salience and brand selection. For universities like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Louisville, and others, who are often ranked as top basketball programs every year, salience drives their strength in attracting students. For the smaller schools, like this year’s Florida Atlantic or Fairleigh Dickerson, their performance in the tournament gives them a significant boost in salience at a time when many high school students are making college decisions.
Fame – a key financial driver. Becoming famous through a great tournament performance elevates the brand to top-of-mind through both network broadcast coverage and social media. The “Cinderella” stories drive fame, although it may be short lived. This fame, however, can be just enough to push the college to preferred status over competitors. Research conducted by the International Practitioners of Advertising (IPA) found that while salience is critical to brand selection, achieving fame is 4x times more financially rewarding.3
Social meaning – This is strengthened by increased short-term fame that becomes an emotional differentiator for the college. All brands strive to create a differentiated and compelling meaning that will satisfy both functional and emotional needs of target audiences. Social meaning refers to any group of associated people who support the same club, purpose, interests, etc. Social meaning becomes a badge for self-identity and enables fitting in. In the case with students transitioning from high school to college, identifying a new social anchor is especially powerful. Social meaning is supercharged by tournament success which drives a significant spike in branded college apparel sales for both entering freshmen, as well as current students and alumni.
Coaches leading major university teams often find meeting the expectations of its fan base to be difficult. What drives the sports-related financial performance of their universities weighs heavily on their shoulders. The same salience, fame and social meaning that helps them recruit great athletes also sets a high bar for year-over-year achievement. As John Calipari of Kentucky honestly confessed in the press conference after their tournament loss, “I understand what this program is about. I think, again, that’s what makes it what it is, and that’s why I tell players, this isn’t for everybody because the expectations are so high… it is Kentucky, you put that (uniform) on, the other team is going to play out of their minds and play like they have nothing to lose, that means you’ve got to play that way.4” And Coach Calipari is correct, the route to fame for other colleges is defeating Kentucky.
So, congratulations to this year’s men’s Cinderella teams, Princeton (#15 seed) and Florida Atlantic (#9 seed). And on the women’s side Georgia (#10 seed), Miami (#9 seed) and Old Miss (#8 seed). May your run during the big dance continue to reward your players and coaches on the court and respective universities financially.
1 The Most-Valuable College Basketball Teams, by Chris Smith, Forbes,
March 12, 2019.
2 The Meaningful Brand. How Strong Brands Make More Money, by Nigel Hollis, Palgrave Macmillan publishing 2013.
3 The Long and Short of It. Balancing Short and Long-term Marketing Strategies, by Les Binet and Peter Field, International Practitioners of Advertising (IPA), 2013.
4 Kentucky fans are right to have high expectations. John Calipari isn’t meeting them by John Clay, Lexington Herald Leader, March 20, 2023.