March Madness marketing: How elite brands can score major points

It’s the start of March Madness and college basketball enthusiasts around the country are rejoicing.

Although picking the perfect March Madness bracket is nearly impossible, millions of people complete the legendary ritual each year and tune into the live games. The famous NCAA tournament draws in die-hard fans and bandwagon supporters alike.

And what would March Madness be without brands getting in on the hype? Last year, almost all of the ad spots during the men and women’s tournaments were quickly picked up, with total ad spend breaking away above $1 billion in past years.

The impressive investments mean the stakes are high. So, which March Madness marketing strategies will go all the way? We looked to past tournaments to make our strategy predictions, and turned to Sprout Social Influencer Marketing to find out where the best partnership opportunities lie.

Let’s dive into the results and a few tips to help your brand stay in the game.

The March Madness marketing opportunity

Last year, the men’s March Madness championship game drew an average of 18.1 million viewers, and the women’s championship drew another 8.5 million. With tens of millions of people tuning in, it’s clear that March Madness is a major cultural moment.

And not just for typical fans, or sports and fitness-adjacent brands. Between the play-by-plays, trending commentary and student-athelete influencers on social media, March Madness has more impact on the zeitgeist than ever before.

Zooming out, social has helped transform many sporting events into a lucrative marketing opportunity for brands of all kinds—from food and beverage to fashion houses to insurance companies. Student-athlete influencers (and other tournament stars) in particular are driving social engagement and sold-out products. This is part of a macro trend, as four in five marketers say influencer content out performs content posted on the brand account in terms of reach, engagement and conversion, per The State of Influencer Marketing Report.

As more brands hustle to make the most of March Madness, stand-out campaigns will feature student-athlete influencer partnerships, incorporate online cultural touchstones and address a diverse audience.

4 March Madness marketing ideas and strategies to try (with 2025 campaign examples)

With a massive event like March Madness, it’s easy to get lost in the noise. To craft scroll-stopping campaigns, you need to tap into online culture. Doing so will enable you to partner with the right influencers, create fan experiences your audiences will love and be the first to respond to tournament action.

Here are a few tangible ways to get in on the action, and examples from 2025 to inspire your strategy.

Tap into a new marketplace of influencers like Experian

A historic Supreme Court decision in 2021 allowed collegiate athletes to get paid for their name, image and likeness for the first time. In the past few years, a multimillion dollar-industry has emerged. Student-athletes began partnering with everyone from local college town restaurants to major brands like Nike. During March Madness, brands take these partnerships to the next level—from Round 21’s collection with Paige Bueckers to U by Kotex’s Play on your Period campaign.

We especially loved Experian’s campaign with Flau’jae Johnson, Louisiana State University basketball guard. In addition to being a nationally ranked player, Johnson is also a popular rap artist who is passionate about personal finance.

In social media videos for the campaign, the star answered fan questions and explained how she uses the Experian app to build credit and monitor her subscriptions.

She also revealed that Experian wiped $5 million in debt for families in Louisiana, with another $100,000 every time the LSU women’s basketball team won a March Madness game.

According to Sprout Social Influencer Marketing, the partnership delivered an earned media value (EMV) near $350,000 on social.

Why it works: In 2025, Johnson was the highest-paid women’s college athlete, with a NIL valuation of $1.5 million. She’s built a personal brand around long-term wealth, investing and financial literacy, making her the perfect creator partner for Experian. For brands outside of the sports industry, tap into student-athlete influencers who already have credibility in your space or niche.

Leverage real-time trends like Buffalo Wild Wings

One of the breakout stars of the 2025 tournament wasn’t a coach or player—it was Amir “Aura” Khan, manager for McNeese State. Khan went viral when he walked out of the team’s tunnel holding a boombox, leading the players to the court while enthusiastically rapping along to Lud Foe’s “In & Out” track. It’s hard not to smile and dance along when you watch the footage back.

After the video took the internet by storm, Khan was the first student manager of a college team to sign NIL marketing deals, securing partnerships with TickPick, Insomnia Cookies, Buffalo Wild Wings and more.

Buffalo Wild Wings’ partnership was particularly genius. The brand created a custom boombox with the Buffalo Wild Wings logo front and center. Khan used the boombox for the team’s entire March Madness run.

Khan and his boombox earned over 2.5 billion earned media impressions, Buffalo Wild Wings’ CMO, Tristan Meline told Forbes.

Looking ahead, Buffalo Wild Wings is the official sports bar sponsor of the 2026 tournament, and has already unveiled new merch and menu items. Khan has recently returned to McNeese State, after a brief run at NC State. Both are primed for the 2026 March Madness spotlight.

Why it works: The campaign speaks to a favorite March Madness pastime: cheering for unexpected Cinderella stories. By partnering with Khan early, Buffalo Wild Wings effectively tapped into online conversation and the spirit of the tournament.

When seeking out partners, remember they don’t have to be from the top seeded team or an MVP to make an impact.

Invest in hometown pride like AT&T

AT&T is one of the top tier NCAA sponsors. The brand has invested in March Madness host cities and local communities since they first started sponsoring the tournament in 2001.

During last year’s final four in San Antonio, AT&T prioritized local impact by donating $10 for every basket made at the Fan Fest to the South Texas Business Partnership and Compudopt to provide computer access to the local community. AT&T also sponsored the Block Party at the March Madness Music Festival, a free event for members of the San Antonio community and visiting sports fans alike. AT&T is returning to sponsor the event at the 2026 tournament.

Last year, the brand also partnered with Duke star Cooper Flagg and his grandma, featuring the duo in a bingo-inspired ad. Nothing says pride quite like a grandmother’s custom sweater.

Why it works: While hometown pride might elicit visions of fierce rivalry, on a deeper level it’s about caring for the communities our favorite teams and players represent, and highlighting our favorite players’ families and support systems.

Even though AT&T is a global brand, they serve at the local level providing connectivity for individuals wherever they are. So this campaign is not only serving fans, but also serving their local customers.

Create online hype with court-side moments like Snapchat

Snapchat, the ephemeral content sharing platform, works with student athletes, schools, leagues and brands to create content around big moments from the March Madness tournament. Many schools have verified accounts—known as Snap Star accounts—on Snapchat, which the network highlights for their users (most are under 25).

The network combines behind-the-scenes content with official broadcast footage. As Anmol Malhotra, Snap’s Head of Sports Partnerships, told Marketing Brew: “We have a big relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery…Turner, etc. That’s where we’re getting our coverage, but I think a lot of the coverage we’re going to get is also from the teams, the players themselves and the people creating content for the platform.”

Why it works: On social, brands can blend official moments with behind-the-scenes perspectives of those closest to the action. Partnering with creators, athletes or insiders who can capture real-time moments makes coverage feel more human and social-first, and embeds your brand into the tournament in a natural way.

Top college athlete influencers to watch for 2026 March Madness marketing (and beyond)

There are more than 550,000 NCAA student athletes. This record-breaking figure explains why the influencer marketing opportunity for brands is at an all-time high in the wake of the NIL ruling.

To help narrow down this massive pool and find the right partners for your brand, turn to a solution like Influencer Marketing.

To demonstrate how it works, we looked at the Influencer Marketing profiles of the top college athlete influencers generating buzz. Here’s what we found.

JuJu Watkins

JuJu Watkins is a star forward at the University of Southern California. In addition to her basketball prowess, Watkins is also a NIL trailblazer. She was the first university basketball player to sign a deal with a professional makeup brand when she partnered with NYX in 2024. She has also worked with brands like Gatorade and Nike.

Unfortunately, Watkins sustained an ACL injury during last year’s tournament, and is unable to play in the 2025-2026 season. Despite being sidelined, Watkins remains one of the biggest stars of college basketball on social.

According to Influencer Marketing data, Watkins has around 1.5 million followers across networks, and 85% of her audience is under age 34. She has an impressive 6.5% engagement rate on Instagram, and she’s most likely to share content about global adventures and basketball. Her brand partnership with NYX cosmetics has amassed an EMV of nearly $400,000.

Cameron Boozer

Cameron Boozer is a forward for the Duke Blue Devils, and has already won the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Boozer is prominently featured in Duke marketing. Despite only being a freshman, he has already secured deals with brands like Samsung and Jordan, alongside his twin brother Cayden.

Boozer has a little over 200,000 followers on Instagram, with an engagement rate of 4.3%, per Influencer Marketing. He is most likely to talk about topics like travel and his passion for basketball, as determined by the platform.

His top brand partnership to date is with Crocs—a brand deal that led to almost 3,000 engagements and EMV worth nearly $6,000. We expect to see Boozer’s presence grow throughout the tournament, as Duke is the top seeded team.

Flau’jae Johnson

As we already mentioned, Johnson is a leading Louisiana State University player who has built a strong personal brand around her collegiate basketball and rap careers. Per Influencer Marketing data, Johnson has nearly 5 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook and Snapchat. Her view rate is particularly high, significantly surpassing similar creators’ benchmark. The platform found that she’s most likely to talk about topics like basketball life, college pride at LSU, her music and mixtapes, and music video releases and visuals.

Johnson has collaborated with around 40 brands, including PUMA, OREO and Samsung, and often uses her own music in the sponsored posts.

AJ Dybansta

AJ Dybansta is a freshman star at Brigham Young University, already making a name for himself setting scoring records in the Big 12 Tournament. He has already partnered with major brands like Fanatics, Nike and Red Bull.

Per Influencer Marketing, Dybansta has over 1.2 million followers on Instagram, TikTok and X—with a high engagement rate of 7.2% on X. Almost half of his followers are 24 or younger, and 82% are men. He’s most likely to post about topics like basketball highlights, community and charity, travel and lifestyle, his faith and behind-the-scenes moments.

Hannah Hidalgo

Hannah Hidalgo is a guard for the University of Notre Dame. Known as a fierce player, Hidalgo was recently named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year and the overall Player of the Year—the first athlete in conference history to achieve both in back-to-back seasons.

Hidalgo has partnered with brands like Redbull and CVS.

According to Influencer Marketing, Hidalgo has more than 150,000 followers across networks, with a high engagement rate of 7.5% on Instagram and an even higher 12.5% on TikTok. She’s most likely to post about dance and music trends, women’s basketball, Notre Dame sports, podcasts and interviews, her faith, and lifestyle and brand content.

Our platform also found her top brand campaign by engagement was with Gatorade, a campaign with a 18.7% engagement rate of 6,600 engagements.

Yaxel Lendeborg

Yaxel Lendeborg is a standout power forward for the University of Michigan who was recently named the Big 10 Player of the Year. Lendeborg’s NIL evaluation of $2.3 million makes him among the top 20 highest evaluated NCAA student athletes.

In addition to being a major spokesperson for the University of Michigan, Lendeborg also appeared in and promoted the NBA 2K25 game.

The star player has 60,000 followers on Instagram, with a very impressive 32% engagement rate, according to Influencer Marketing. He is most likely to post about local restaurants and other local brands, NBA2K gaming and the Michigan Wolverines.

How your brand can pull off a social media upset

March Madness isn’t just a basketball tournament—it’s a cultural phenomenon that presents massive opportunities for brands.

Whether through well-researched student athlete collaborations, immersive IRL experiences or activations inspired by trending social media moments, the key to success lies in tapping into online culture and meeting audiences where they already are.

As brands continue to raise the stakes each year, those that embrace authenticity and innovation will stand out from the crowd. With the right strategies and partnerships, your brand can turn March Madness into one shining marketing moment. Now’s the time to get in the game.

Looking for more instruction on finding the best student-athlete influencers? Read our guide to finding the right influencers for your campaign.