NCAA Women's Basketball College Road Trip 2022

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

NCAA Women's basketball has undergone many changes over the last two years. A new brand was thrust upon it, and it needed to find its soul. The soul of NCAA March Madness Women's Basketball has always been the players and coaches—their stories need to be told beyond their success or struggles on the court.

The women who play our game represent many, work hard to achieve their dreams, and have a story to tell. This year, we set out to tell those stories and promote Women's College Basketball through the Women's Basketball College Road Trip.

How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?

The Women's Basketball College Road Trip continues to be the root of our seasonal social media strategy success. It engages the community and players before the season's hustle and allows fans to engage with players as people before they're players IN the game.

After concluding The Women's Basketball College Road Trip, we've seen dramatic changes in our social metrics to the tune of about 80% increased engagement year over year. We believe this shows leagues in order to create brand buy-in on social media, you must make a meaningful investment in content and meet the audience and players where they are.

We see engagement as physical and digital. The physical engagement was lost after years of COVID protocols and the personalities were lost. Once we entered the "homes" of our players and coaches, digital engagement followed. After concluding The Women's Basketball College Road Trip this year, we've already had many teams lobbying for our visit in 2024.

We look forward to continuing this program for years to increase awareness, humanize the Sport, and showcase diversity in our game.

Objective

The soul of NCAA March Madness Women's Basketball has always been the players and coaches - their stories need to be told beyond their success or struggles on the court. The women who play our game represent many, work hard to achieve their dreams, and have a story to tell. This year, we set out to tell those stories and promote Women's College Basketball through the Women's Basketball College Road Trip.

• Goal 1: Increase Awareness and Build Brand Loyalty in Women's Basketball prior to the season. By telling these stories and creating a connection with fans, the goal was to have them continue to follow the brand all year long and develop a brand connection with us to flourish in March.
• Goal 2: Humanize the Sport: By telling the personal stories of the coaches and players, the campaign aims to humanize the sport and create an emotional connection.
• Goal 3: Showcase Diversity and Inclusion: The diversity of our game differs from many other collegiate women's sports. By highlighting the unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of the coaches and players, the campaign aims to promote diversity and inclusion in the sport.

Strategy & Execution

The modern sports fan craves the viral moments but is often left without those moments stemming from Women's Basketball. We set out to change that craving and provide a menu that contains a steady diet of fun, entertaining content from all over the country cooked up by the players. We knew long-form stories weren't going to cut it.

We approached each stop on the Women's Basketball College Road Trip with the goal of engaging, quick content designed specifically for the youth sports fan (the next generation of Women's Basketball consumers).

We met our audience where they were by displaying nearly all of our efforts exclusively on social media. The content was designed with the audience in mind and the subject. We wanted to create content that the players would share and "make their own."

They did, and our brand reach was expanded within the network of players and their fans. To achieve this, a team of 4 women traveled the country to 17 DI NCAA Women's Basketball powerhouses and created, edited, and posted an average of 49 pieces of content for each stop (8-hour average visit).

Organizations

• NCAA Digital

Athletes & Creators

17 DI Women's Basketball teams, players, and coaches

• Kentucky
• Notre Dame
• Tennessee
• Howard
• Princeton
• Jackson State
• Baylor
• Texas
• Arizona
• Arizona State
• Florida
• Iowa
• Creighton
• Virginia Tech
• South Carolina
• Duke
• NC State

Credits

Daress McClung
Assistant Director, Championships & Alliances
NCAA

Alexis Pitchford
Digital Media Producer at NCAA (March Madness WBB)
NCAA

Autumn Johnson
NCAA March Madness Reporter
NCAA

Jaelyn Arndt
Assistant Director, Communications - Creative & Digital
NCAA

Chris Dion
NCAA Associate Director of Digital & Social Media
NCAA