Coke ad campaign zeroes in on hoops fans

Coca-Cola Co. will put two of its fast-rising brands on center stage for the next three weeks as the NCAA men’s basketball tournament begins.

Coke Zero is running a “Taste the Madness” campaign. Vitaminwater, a line of enhanced waters, will be pushing a “Revive to Survive” theme.

March Madness has become a marketing powerhouse for CBS and the NCAA. The men’s basketball tournament ranks only behind the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl in TV ad spending on postseason sports, according to New York-based TNS Media Intelligence.

Last year, Coca-Cola ranked third in ad spending during the tourney, TNS reported. General Motors Corp. and AT&T were first and second.

For the second straight year, Coke Zero, a no-calorie beverage that’s done well with males, is the lead soft-drink brand for Coca-Cola’s NCAA efforts.

“The audience for NCAA March Madness is right on target for Coke Zero drinkers,” said Caren Pasquale Seckler, assistant vice president for Coca-Cola trademark strategy for Coca-Cola North America.

Through www.tastethemadness.com, Coca-Cola is collecting vignettes of fans showing their passion for their teams. The best entries will be featured in a TV commercial during the April 6 championship game.

Coca-Cola’s marketing campaign also includes product samplings across college campuses, point-of-sale materials in stores and sponsorship of the Web-based March Madness On Demand.

The NCAA tournament provides a broad platform for reaching consumers on a local and national level, Seckler said. “We don’t view it as a blip in time or one big event,” she said. “It’s end-to-end, everything that touches consumers.”

Vitaminwater, part of Coca-Cola’s Glaceau division, also will be a featured brand. For the first time, Vitaminwater will be on the sidelines of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

March Madness is a perfect fit for Vitaminwater because it helps the company reach fans and athletes alike, said Bob Cramer, Glaceau vice president of sports marketing. Vitmaminwater is billed as a drink for active lifestyles.

The sideline deal highlights the brand’s Revive flavor, a beverage designed to aid recovery with B vitamins and potassium. Look for the purple and white Vitaminwater coolers, cups and squeeze bottles along the player benches.

“We use that as our way in,” Cramer said. “Being on the sidelines in front of millions of fans is a good thing for us.”

Like Coke Zero, Vitaminwater has a broad marketing campaign that includes product sampling, TV commercials and a Web presence. It’s sponsoring a MySpace bracket challenge and launched a Web site, www.revive2survive.com, that asks customers to submit videos of great basketball moments.

Vitaminwater also has created an ad featuring former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino, now at Louisville, and former Duke player Christian Laettner. The ad is a spoof of Laettner’s last second shot to beat Kentucky in the 1992 tournament. It is already is generating buzz on the Internet and will be aired during the TV broadcast.

“We originally just filmed it as an enhancement to the online contest,” Cramer said. “After we pulled it all together we thought, ‘We really have something here.’”