Infiniti serves as an Official Corporate Partner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA®), National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). As a Corporate Partner of the NCAA, Infiniti works with each coaches association, and in turn FishBait Marketing, to develop and execute programs surrounding the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships.
Corporate Objective
Infiniti chose to develop a marketing campaign, the Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge/Round by Round Bracket Challenge, designed to drive awareness of the entire Infiniti line of performance luxury vehicles, including the top-selling 2011 Infiniti G37 Sedan and new Infiniti G25 Sedan.
Infiniti elected to execute this campaign in conjunction with their partnership with the NCAA and NABC during both the NCAA Division I men’s basketball regular and post seasons and leveraged through the existing partnership with ESPN.
FishBait Role
FishBait was tasked with reaching out to the participating coaches to schedule filming of promotional PSAs; working with their respective athletic departments to generate awareness and promotion to students and fans; and also working with the various charities involved to also ensure their inclusion in promotion of the program.
Results
Fourteen (14) coaches were selected to participate in the Coaches’ Charity Challenge, representing a total of eleven (11) different charities.
Rick Barnes, University of Texas, Neighborhood Longhorns Program
John Calipari, University of Kentucky, Samaritan’s Feet
Jamie Dixon, University of Pittsburgh, Maggie Dixon Foundation
Billy Donovan, University of Florida, Sebastian Ferrero Foundation
Scott Drew, Baylor, Scott & Kelly Drew Scholarship Fund
Seth Greenberg, Virginia Tech, American Heart Association
Tom Izzo, Michigan State, Coaches vs. Cancer®
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke, Emily K Center
Frank Martin, Kansas State, Coaches vs. Cancer
Matt Painter, Purdue, Special Olympics
Bill Self, University of Kansas, Bill Self’s Assists Foundation
Rick Stansbury, Mississippi State, Camp Rising Sun
Bruce Weber, University of Illinois, Coaches vs. Cancer
Jay Wright, Villanova, Coaches vs. Cancer
Approximately 30,000 votes were cast on www.espn.go.com, with University of Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan earning 52% of the vote. In turn, his selected charity, the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation, was presented a $100,000 check from Infiniti at a PR event at Infiniti headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee on May2, 2011.
Each of the remaining ten (10) charities represented in the program were awarded a check for $10,000 from Infiniti.
The second phase of the program, the Round by Round Bracket Challenge Benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer, encouraged college basketball fans to log in to ESPN online and select teams in the championship bracket, was also promoted during ESPN programming.
Over 260,000 registrants logged on and created an account with an impressive 25% returning throughout the program to continue making selections for their brackets.
Coaches vs. Cancer was awarded a $500,000 check at the PR event in Franklin, Tennessee on May 2, 2011.
