Now in its seventh year as a corporate partner, LG’s umbrella objective for its 2016 multi-strand March Madness ‘Do Game Day Right’ initiative is to ensure fans have ‘the ultimate tournament game day experience’ and one key strand of its 2016 activity focused on team (and product) colours.
The brand linked up with ‘official LG colour commentator’ and ESPN college ball analyst Jay Bilas and the Elias Sports Bureau to uncover and amplify ‘never-before-seen’ performance statistics based on team uniform colours for 2016 Division I Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship
The stats, tips and tricks colour content was amplified across several LG platforms – including a YouTube spot series.
The focus on colour aims to draw links between its tournament activation and its new OLED TVs and Twin washing machine range.
The idea aims to reflect key selling points behind each product: its OLED TVs produce more than a billion rich colours and its Twin Wash machines wash two separate loads of laundry to protect colours.
Verified by Elias Sports Bureau, each statistic reveals performance by uniform colour by looking at all the teams that made the Final Four since the tournament moved to the 64 team format in 1985.
The practical application of this content-led activation strand is to use the data to help fans fill out their tournament brackets and details include:
> Teams that won the most championships wore blue (23), red (6), green (1) & orange (1)
> Teams that lost the most championships wore blue (20), red (6), orange (3), yellow (1) & green (1)
> Teams with the largest average margin of victory wore black (+11.1), blue (+10.8) and red (+9.6)
> Teams that average the fewest points allowed per game wore green (64.7), blue (65.8) orange (65.9)
‘In sports, battle lines are drawn using team uniform colours, with fans literally wearing their allegiance, but no one has ever looked at the power and performance of a team uniform colour,’ outlines Bilas.
‘With pride and bragging rights on the line, LG’s stats are a fun consideration for fans when filling out brackets and another great example of the innovative ways that LG helps fans Do Game Day Right.’
‘A team’s uniform colours are a beacon of fan pride, spirit and unity, and they’re really a symbol of the fun this tournament brings people every year,” adds David VanderWaal, vice president of marketing, LG Electronics USA.
‘As an innovator in colour technology, who better than LG to show all the ways colour can help you Do Game Day Right this season, from helping pick your bracket and cleaning your game day gear, to providing the best viewing experience at home.’
LG also needed a social sports content campaign tied to its #DoGamedayRight promotion that leveraged their social reach and helped drive traffic to their NCAA promotional microsite during March Madness.
So, in addition to its ongoing campaign, the brand is deploying content across multiple social platforms – such as tournament statistics and facts relating to specific games pre tip-off,
Will the stats hold true for @GoHeels? More @MarchMadness stats before the #ChampionshipGame https://t.co/KU6sprrgWH pic.twitter.com/aqHtgs6lue
— LG Electronics (@LGUS) April 3, 2016
.@GoHeels Prove the point! Teams in Blue have the most @FinalFour appearances. #LGGameDay https://t.co/KU6sprrgWH pic.twitter.com/tEvCPDpUYD
— LG Electronics (@LGUS) April 2, 2016
and Tip-Off Tailgate prizes and giveaways,
Join us at #FinalFour weekend at the Tip-Off Tailgate! Games and prizes for all ages! #LGGameDayhttps://t.co/cFrMRCwDyl
— LG Electronics (@LGUS) April 2, 2016
and a ‘Tailgate Zone’,
We’re ready to bring some color to #FinalFour…over a billion colors, actually! Want more? https://t.co/KU6sprrgWH pic.twitter.com/DL0A0HJYLx
— LG Electronics (@LGUS) March 31, 2016
at the competition’s big culmination weekend it also hosts a set of on-site experiences such as its branded ‘Final Four’ Experience Room,
You're an #LGTopRecruit when you find the OLED Experience Room at the LG #FinalFour Training Facility! #LGGameDayhttps://t.co/y6rzGWEHfx
— LG Electronics (@LGUS) April 3, 2016
and ‘Training Facility’.
Can't make it to Houston for #FinalFour weekend? Here's a peek into our training facility to become an #LGTopRecruithttps://t.co/A2DOmJQWiQ
— LG Electronics (@LGUS) April 2, 2016
Colour, of course, was just one part of the integrated, multi-strand activation programme.
At the heart of the wider, ongoing ‘Do Game Day Right’ campaign sits its central college sports digital destination – www.LGGameDayHub.com.
This bespoke site serves as the brand’s central location for NCAA-related content – which for the March Madness basketball tournament spans advertising, a national sweepstakes ticket competition, a photo contest, a tournament trivia content strand, games, as well as information about how specific LG products (from appliances to mobiles) can ‘do game day right’.
This site, which also links with NCAA media partners CBS Sports and Turner Sports, offers the brand a platform to engage throughout the whole tournament and to talk about NCAA sports throughout the year – not just in March.
This year’s march Madness activity began in early March when LG launched the ‘LG Sweepstakes’ offering basketball lovers and LG customers a chance to win tickets to the National Championship Game
While at the culmination of the competition during the Final Four weekend itself (2-4 April) in Houston, LG also had an expanded on-site presence giving fans the change to play games, experience LG products and take home their own game-day swag.
These experiences included a ‘Tailgate Zone’,
and a Final Four ‘Training Facility’.
As well as specific LG product promotions such as,
and a ‘Speed Cycle Challenge’,
plus the ‘OLED Experience Room’,
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The core strategy was to maximise value as an official NCAA sponsor by utilising social to drive traffic to LG digital destinations.
The colour statistics strand gave LG unique tournament content (tied to its umbrella #DoGamedayRight concept) that enabled the brand to leverage its social reach and drive traffic to their NCAA promotional microsite during March Madness.
LG aimed to build active loyalty among current LG product owners while also increasing awareness/consideration from non-LG customers tied to NCAA sports activations.
LG’s target demographics for the campaign spanned both current college students, alumnus and household goods buyers.
This colour content also positions LG as something of a thought leader and content provider in the NCAA basketball space.
The latest sponsorship agreement between the multinational conglomerate and property owner ensures LG Electronics USA will be an official NCAA partner through to 2018.
The deal gives LG exclusive category marketing and promotional rights for consumer electronics, mobile phones and home appliances related to all 89 NCAA championship events – including the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship (March Madness and the Final Four) and the NCAA football championship.
‘We both inspire and we both believe in excellence,’ explained LG US consumer promotions and events director Michelle Donovan when she outlined the rationale behind the partnership.
‘At the end of the day, we provide a solution to do game day better, just as an athlete prepares for his or her game day better.’
LG Electronics USA is a corporate partner of the NCAA.
The $52bn global technology, consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications company sees a range of home entertainment products, mobile phones, home appliances, commercial displays, air conditioning systems and solar energy solutions in the USA under its umbrella ‘Life’s Good’ marketing theme.
The NCAA itself is a membership-led non-profit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 450,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities.
Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports.
The other companies in its top tier official Corporate Champions partnership programme include AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola, while its official Corporate Partners include Allstate, Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick, Burger King, Enterprise, Infiniti, LG Electronics USA, Lowe’s, Nabisco, Northwestern Mutual, Reese’s (Hershey’s), Unilever and UPS.
‘LG has been a key member of the NCAA Corporate Partner family for six years now,’ adds Keith Martin, NCAA managing director, marketing and broadcast alliances.
‘This partnership is great for both the NCAA and LG, but even more so for the fans, who enjoy the rich game-day experiences LG and its products make possible.’
Links
LG ‘Do Game Day Right’ Hub:
http://www.lg.com/us/do-game-day-right
LG Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/LGUSA
LG Twitter:
LG Website:
http://www.lg.com
NCAA March Madness:
http://www.ncaa.com/march-madness
NCAA Twitter:
NCAA YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ncaa
NCAA Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ncaastudents
NCAA Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/NCAAsports/
NCAA Websites:
