ESPN wants non-sports fans to make a bracket

Welcome to mid-March. It really snuck up on us, didn’t it? And it’s a big week for brands, between the Oscars, St. Patrick’s Day, and March Madness. Let’s get into it.

When it Comes to Marketing, March is Mad for Brackets

This year, ESPN is telling everyone to ignore the sports stats and “Go With Your Gut” when it comes to March Madness brackets. This campaign is an effort to get everyone to “join in the fun”—not just traditional sports fans. It’s a deft move, considering many brands take up the bracket format for March initiatives despite promoting products not remotely sports-related; March Madness brackets are ubiquitous.

For example, authorpreneur Ashleigh Renard, who writes about reinvigorating the sex-lives of married couples, has launched March Hotness on social media. Users vote in Renard’s stories on which intimate act they’d prefer, engaging her audience base and creating an interactive experience.

Similarly, bracket filters weighing movies, Hollywood’s leading men, books, video games, musicians, and more against one another have taken TikTok by storm. The searches “how to make bracket filter” and “how to create a bracket filter” have 133.2M and 36.9M views, respectively. People seem to love picking their favorites—of anything—on social media.

If you haven’t created a bracket for your brand yet, why not? It’s a cheap, fun way to engage your audience and find out their preferences. ESPN’s initiative and the steep rise in bracket filters on social media prove they’re not just for sports fans anymore. People love sharing their opinions and TikTok’s filter even lets them record an explanation for their choices. Hop on it.

Around the Web

• Kroger is pushing its own private-label products for good reason—in 2021, Kroger made $28 billion in sales from its private-label brands.

• Best Buy and Roku partner to play on each other’s strengths: retail media networks and connected TV.

• Publishers no longer see social as a traffic driver but as a brand-building tool.

• Disney has sold out its Oscars advertising spots at a slightly lower rate.

• 78% of consumers find influencers impactful when it comes to sustainability.

Just Can’t Get Enough

Glamour associate beauty editor Danielle Sinay.

• She’s taken us behind the scenes of the Condé Nast office.

• And also weighed in on the Oscars—including the difficulty of saying certain titles.

Did your Oscar picks win? Have you used any of the bracket filters to illustrate preferences? Reply and let us know!

Thanks for joining us, and we’ll see you Wednesday!