Every year, millions of fans turn to multimedia sports company, ESPN to carefully curate their brackets for the largest college basketball tournament in the U.S.
From fans and novices to former players and coaches alike, no matter your knowledge of the sport, everyone makes their picks and holds their breath. Correctly filling out a bracket can seem daunting, especially to casual fans. So this year, ESPN is encouraging everyone to trust their instincts and “go with your gut”!
In a new integrated campaign for its annual Tournament Challenge bracket game – aimed at bringing previous fans back and engaging new, casual sports fans – ESPN Launched three new spots on Monday, ahead of the men’s and women’s brackets opening on Sunday, March 12th where the brand plays into the uncertainty, madness and chaos surrounding brackets.
Created alongside long-time agency partner Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP), the new “Go With Your Gut” builds on the momentum from last year’s Tournament Challenge, and ESPN’s equal focus surrounding the Men’s and Women’s games, this new campaign empowers everyone to embrace the madness of it all, ignore the statistics and analytics, and just trust their intuition (or signs from the universe) when filling out their brackets.
Seth Ader, Vice President, Brand Marketing at ESPN shares, “ESPN Tournament Challenge continues to be the No. 1 bracket game and consistently reaches a younger, more casual audience between the men’s and women’s games. We’re encouraging fans to go with their gut and embrace the roller coaster of emotions that March college basketball brings us.”
The three new spots highlight how, when it comes to the tournament, anything can happen. Like top seeds losing early or underdogs going all the way, there is no surefire way of predicting the outcome. From a woman coming across an azure-hooded blue jay and believing “Creighton will fly through the early rounds” to a man feeling a little husky, “like UConn” in his dress shirt, the creative show’s fans going with their gut based on epiphanies. Watch below:
REELated:
“ESPN’s Tournament Challenge continues to be the #1 March Madness Bracket Challenge, but so many fans who don’t know much about college basketball are scared to get involved. With this new effort, we wanted to embrace the fact that statistically, no one – not even the most well informed super fan – is capable of filling out the perfect bracket. The uncertainty and the madness and the chaos are really what make Tournament Challenge so engaging and so easy to love. We wanted the creative to highlight that feeling,” notes Robyn Tenenbaum, Creative Director at BSSP.
“Go With Your Gut” will run across broadcast, streaming, digital, audio and social.
CREDITS:
CLIENT: ESPN
- Laura Gentile – EVP, ESPN Marketing
- Seth Ader – VP, Brand Marketing
- Alex Healy-Lucciola – Sr. Director, Brand Marketing
- John Lobo – Associate Director, Brand Marketing
- Jon Little – Associate Producer II, Marketing Production
- Lenny Washington – Coordinator, Brand Marketing
AGENCY: BSSP
- Sinan Dagli – Executive Creative Director
- Robyn Tenenbaum – Creative Director
- Lauren Byers – Art Director
- Justin Cannon – Senior Copywriter
- Cade Wallace – Senior Producer
- Jake Bayham – Head of Strategy
- Cierra Moore – Strategy Director
- Kyle Rodriguez – Account Director
- Shannon Stucke – Account Supervisor
- Krista Horn – Senior Business Affairs Manager
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Stept Studios
- DIRECTOR Ben McManus
- DIRECTOR John Marsico
- EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Blake Greenbaum
- PRODUCER Rebecca Case
- PRODUCTION MANAGER Jasmine Holdsworth
- 1ST AD Daniel Bennaiem
- DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Bryant Jansen
- GAFFER Eddy Scully
- KEY GRIP Collin Gallivan
- PRODUCTION DESIGNER Tyler Jensen
- SET DECORATOR Christina Skilbred
- HAIR & MAKEUP LEAD Brielle Mckenna
- WARDROBE STYLIST Yvonne Reddy
- CASTING DIRECTOR Dan Cowan
EDIT: MackCut
- Editor: Brendan Hogan
- Assistant Editor: Ellen Schoenfeld
- executive producer: Gina Pagano
- Producer: Dylan Anderson
- Animation: Nick Quiles
- Conform: Jim Hayhow
SOUND DESIGN / MIX: Th3rd Sound
Sound Designer / Mixer: Chip Sloan
