Tipico’s strategy scores with insights on basketball enthusiasts: Over a billion impressions as fans choose hoops over happenings
March Madness is a cultural moment that transforms tens of millions of Americans into superfans. But for those that follow college basketball from the season’s first tip-off, the experience has extra significance.
In a season defined by unprecedented star power on the women’s side and heated conference matchups on the men’s side, Tipico Sportsbook sought to quantify just how deep diehard fandom runs.
Collaborating with market research firm 72Point, The Pollack Group created a PR activity to outthink Tipico’s competition and to position Tipico as the sportsbook that had a gauge on the pulse of basketball fans, cementing its brand alongside the 2024 tournament experience.
Working in partnership, questions were formulated to query 2,000 basketball fans to learn more about their behavior and habits leading up to the tournament. How much would March Madness really impact daily routines? Would fans stay loyal to their favorite team with their money or personal glory on the line?
The data showed that 26% of fans have skipped work and 17% of fans have skipped dates and even birthday parties just to catch a game. Additionally, while many fans (57%) were confident that their favorite team could win the championship, only 30% vowed to pick their favorite team to win their bracket no matter what.
Using the survey’s most compelling results, the teams created story copy for publishers to adapt and use approaching the tournament. Static and animated infographics were produced to distill the survey’s results into digestible and shareable content to help round out the visual storytelling.
The results: Tipico’s March Madness PR push netted over one billion impressions including coverage in top-tier outlets like the Associated Press, Yahoo! Lifestyle, and the New York Post. Many of the stories featured insights from Tipico executives about the tournament’s cultural influence and why it continues to defy sky-high expectations.
The survey was more than a testament to time spent and bets made; it was a testament to Tipico’s understanding of the human element behind the fan experience and the ideas that sports bettors collectively care about. The agency was able to enrich the “madness” coverage with human interest angles that connected with Tipico’s key audiences, carving out a leadership position for the sportsbook. The timing was perfect, which also helped deny Tipico’s competition from creating a first mover leadership opportunity.
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